


Quantum Connections

by dontpanicprincess



Series: Nanobot Collection [1]
Category: Stitchers (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, evil jacqueline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-17 10:09:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 36,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15459006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontpanicprincess/pseuds/dontpanicprincess
Summary: This is set right after the end of Season 3. It is my take on Kirsten's supposed memory loss, and how everyone deals with it. I also tie heavily into the implied quantum connection between Kirsten and her mother when Kirsten is caught in the memory and her mother tells her she can't help her from there. The perspective shifts chapter to chapter and I tried to capture each character's voice.I marked Teen and Up for occasional swearing, and some pretty serious emotional abuse.I was so excited to write this and hope you enjoy it.





	1. Kirsten

I’LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR WHAT YOU”RE MAKING ME DO TO HIM! rang through my head again and again as I laid in bed, heart pounding too fast. The connection with my mother pulsed pale green in the back of my head. Not pain, exactly, but wrong. Like an alien invading my brain. A goddam quantum alien. Cameron would have a movie quote for this. Cameron. Fuck. Just fuck. I just can’t right now. I pushed the feelings down again with all my strength before the blackness could suck me in again. I wiped the escaped tears angrily off my face. HOW COULD I BE SO POWERLESS??? Fear and anger and grief were a whirlwind in my brain, and there was no one I could talk to. MY MOTHER COULD HEAR ME. ALL THE TIME. Definitely spoken words. Thoughts? Not sure yet. 

I’LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU, I thought again, extra loudly in case my mother could hear. God I had wanted my mom back. The love, the family, to make my life complete. To finally heal the pain of losing a childhood and 15 years of normalcy. HOW DID IT GO SO WRONG??? Maybe I should have known. I mean, people don’t marry people who don’t match them in some way. I had just never realized that the match between my mother and father was obsession. I had thought science. But after 8 hours with my mother back in her life, obsession was a better fit. But I’d been obsessed too. Family trait? So many stupid, reckless things to get here. And now she was here, with the weird green pulsing, and my mother insisting that I fake forgetting the last few years. Fake forgetting the lab, my friends, my FAMILY. Cameron. More tears. USELESS USELESS USELESS I screamed silently in time to the pulse.

I’LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU. It had become almost a mantra these past hours. It had started as soon as we took hands in the stitch. My mother had been stitched into my brain, and without Cameron or my father doing a thing, she had sliced through my memories with brutal efficiency. Well, I mapped it for her. I gave her all the emotional hotspots in that ball of love and quantum fucking entanglement. I could feel her holding each memory, judging it, and then throwing it aside like trash. “Oh, my dear Kirsten, my Kirsty,” it had come with a wash of overwhelming love back, cementing the link? I wasn’t sure yet. I WOULD FIGURE IT OUT. I had felt that love, and despite the violation, been happy. MY MOTHER WAS BACK. But then she continued, “Oh my dear girl. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for you all these years. It seems Ed Clark made rather a mess of raising you, though. I’m back now and we’ll soon have everything set to rights.”

“What do you mean?” I felt the love growing tighter around me, like sap flowing around a bug. Amber. Jurassic Park. Don’t be ridiculous Kirsten. This isn’t a disaster movie. It’s your mother back.

“Well, my dear. These people here have far too much of your attention. We need to get back to work on Project Grasshopper. It’s much more important than anything else.” I could hear the capital letters on the project. The failed project in Leslie Turner’s mind? “You’ll need to be able to stitch, of course. I can, but I’ll be busy for a while working on updating the tech further and doing political things to keep your father out of prison. I’ll need his help. We might be able to teach Ivy too. That would make Daniel happy. But that means that boy has got to go. I can see how the hormones have deteriorated the quality of the stitching. Once we’re farther along in the project, I’ll see about getting you a suitable mate or plaything. Genetically compatible, of course. But Cameron has got to go. And some more distance from all the rest, too, I think. They’re distractions from the Work.”

“WHAT?” I was stunned. “You can’t make me give up Cameron. My friends. They love me. They made all of this possible.”

“They certainly did. And we’ll make sure they keep their jobs. Look at how nicely they’ve moved the hardware forward. It needs more work, of course, but I’m back to take that over. I think it best if you just tell everyone you’ve forgotten the last 3 years. That will break things off without the emotional scenes. If they think it’s your choice, it might slow down the Work. Yes, that’s best.”

“Mom. You can’t make me do that.” Who was this person? “You can’t make me tell my friends I don’t remember them.”

“I think I can, my Sweet. It’s really for the best. You’ll see once you’ve got some distance and understand Project Grasshopper.” Those capitals again.

“No. You can’t.” Fury was welling up in me, along with sickly purple horror. 

“You go along with the plan today and I’ll just do a small demonstration to convince you that this is really best for everyone. Who do you like least?” she shuffled through my memories again like playing cards. “Ivy. Well, that’s no good because I really need your father happy for at least a while. The medical examiner who makes Camille so happy? Oh, she’ll do nicely. Amanda it is. She’ll just have a minor breakdown on her way home tonight. Nothing that will make the car crash, mind you. Not for a demonstration.”

“What are you going to do?” the panic had bloomed now. Horror. Rage. This wasn’t what I had wanted. What was happening?

“I’m sure you heard your father talk about the nanobots that let us stitch in the beginning, in both our brains? Oh yes, here’s the memory” it was shoved to the front of my mind, too loud and bright, of right before this stitch had started. Before I got what I wanted. Before this nightmare started. Nanobots in my brain, nanobots in my mother’s brain. “Well, the work I did with Project Grasshopper before the accident has left me with the ability to reprogram nanobots with my mind. I’ll keep it small -- a failed hose. She’ll have a breakdown. And you’ll understand that I can do worse if you fail to do as I say. You haven’t had me for a long time, but now you do. I love you, Kirsty. We will set your life back on track.”

I just sat in stunned silence as the bounce pulled us both back to reality. My collapse didn’t have to be faked. Shock maybe?  
When I woke up again, the amber nightmare was solid around me and I was trapped. One look from my mother, and I pretended to have lost 3 years. I knew no one. I had heard she had worked with them, but was careful to keep any easy familiarity from creeping into my face and voice. And then that look on Cameron’s face when I’d gone in to see him. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS.

That conversation with Cameron. No nicknames. No movies. Just a reminder that they had met as children, a connection that my mother’s -- no -- Jacqueline’s game had not taken from me. It was then I learned about the link. I had pushed it just one tiny bit by touching his heart. Just one touch. I wanted to cry and scream and confess everything. But I didn’t. A demonstration was coming, and until I knew if Jacqueline was as formidable as she appeared, I was willing to risk nothing. More blackness swarmed and I wiped more useless tears away.

I thought I’d gotten away with the one touch until the car ride home. My mother had leaned into me, so loving and quiet, so no one but I could hear, “You have to give him up, Kirsten. We are connected now and I saw that touch in Cameron’s office. No touching, ever. Contact only about work. I really don’t want to have to have that boy reassigned or killed. He’s brilliant, and will be of great use to Project Grasshopper.” Tears started to leak down my face at the cold and casual mention of murder. The agent escorting us glanced away in embarrassment, obviously assuming I was overcome with emotion at whatever her mother had said. Not wrong. I had wanted this. HOW COULD IT BE SO WRONG? “Anyway,” Jacqueline continued, “I changed the demonstration to his volvo tonight. I had to be careful to program the nanobots to only destroy one hose. If they had eaten the tire while he was at speed? Well, that might have ended poorly.” Another wave of black horror. Cameron was in danger. Because of my actions. I HAD PUT CAMERON IN DANGER. 

At home, I pleaded extreme fatigue and had laid down immediately. I didn’t get up when Camille showed up a few hours later to pack a few things. “How’s Kirsten? So tired from today. I sent her to bed.” I heard the perfect mom smile in her tone, “She seems disoriented by the memory loss. Me? I’m amazing. I’ve had 15 years of rest. I can’t wait to get going again. Not a problem that you were delayed. What happened? That nice young man Cameron? His car had a breakdown? How unfortunate. Well, I’m glad he’s ok. Oh, I think we’ll be in tomorrow or the day after to talk to Maggie about next steps. For both of us. I can only hope Kirsten will want to continue to work on the Stitcher Program, although she doesn’t understand why she put her PhD on hold.” The stream of inane chatter came through my brain loud and clear, only intensifying the despair. In fact, it was stereo from her ears and the pulsing link. We were linked all right, and Jacqueline had indeed demonstrated her power. They were all in danger. HER FAMILY.

I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS. But what could I do? What could I do? What could I do? I could yell and tell Camille. And my mother could kill her. Kill her friend without a second thought. Or kill Cameron. Or Linus. Or Maggie. Or Fisher. I had to keep them safe. I had to play along. I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS. I had to play along. For now. Maybe forever? I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. But tonight. I choked the screams for Camille’s help in my throat.

I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR WHAT YOU’RE MAKING ME DO TO HIM. With one last mental yell, I finally fell collapsed into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is Kirsten's initial reaction to being forced to pretend she doesn't remember Cameron or her friends, and sets up the reason she can't just sneak off and tell someone what is going on. It also lays out the very high stakes that she could lose if she defies her mother.
> 
> If you like this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	2. Ed Clark

She appeared looking like a child, so vulnerable. I was sitting with her on the scratchy couch, “I love you, Kirsten.” She looked at me in confusion. 

“This isn’t possible,” she started. “You’ve been dead for 3 years.”

“This is a dream, Kirsten. Everything is possible here.”

“But I don’t remember my dreams, Ed.”

“Tonight you will. Maybe more nights. That stitch with your mother has changed some things in your brain. I don’t know all of it, but I found this opening right away,” I smiled lovingly at her and touched her arm. She leaned into my chest and started crying. My eyes leaked too. I’d always known she’d loved me, but the temporal dysplasia had hidden it for so many years. 

“It’s all gone wrong. I wanted her back so much, Ed. And now she’s back and it’s all horrible! She wants me to pretend that I’ve forgotten the last three years and she’ll hurt my friends if I don’t.” The sobs were harder now. 

I held her tight and let her cry. I’d loved Jacqueline all those years ago. We had been so close, and she so charismatic. Enough that more than once, I’d let her talk me into some hare-brained schemes. It was only after she vanished into statis and Daniel had left this profoundly damaged child with me that I had come to my senses. Children weren’t test subjects. Sometimes the work isn’t more important than the people. This young woman was a treasure, and not just to Project Grasshopper. I might be dead, but I was DONE with Kirsten’s parents hurting her.

As her sobs weakened, I pulled back a little, “Kirsten, I need you to calm down now and listen to me. I’m here to help you.”

Her face turned towards him, its profound skepticism showing, “Ed, what can you do? This is all in my head. You died before I ever joined the stitchers program. And now Mom can kill my friends with only a thought if I cross her. How is anything ever going to be ok again???”

“Kirsten,” I hardened my voice. I needed her to find her core of confidence, and it was lost in this swirl of grief and despair. “Kirsten, listen to me. There is hope. It won’t be easy, but there are ways.”

“How do you know?” there was anger there. That was good. I could work with anger.

“Because I never left you, Kirsten. I have been here loving you the whole time. You loved me, and looked into my brain with a quantum computer, and that somehow has let me stay. We are entangled, and I am grateful for it. I don’t know what I am. An echo? A ghost? But I’m here and I am always watching. The others are here too. I know you’ve seen us before.” That one amazing stitch with Tom. His autism and empathy had combined to allow them all to stand with Kirsten. To let her know she was never alone. I’m still her guardian, though.

“But you still haven’t told me what that does for me.”

I could see her steadying a little. Excellent. She was going to need all of her considerable brain power to steer clear of this shipwreck. “Right now you’re also connected to your mother. It’s a very strong connection because you used love to pull her out of her coma. All love interconnects people, but when you add in a quantum computer, the degree of entanglement increases exponentially. But she is not the only connection. And others can be strengthened.”

She looked curious now. A little suspicious. Even better. “What do you mean?”

“Your mother is not the only person you have pulled back from a stitch using love.”

“Cameron?” her eyes were leaking again. I was sure the hope hurt.

“Hold my hand,” I drew her to the window. They were in an apartment building now, looking through the window with a telescope at other windows across the street. Like with Cameron’s neighbor. I pointed out one window for her. The pulsing was unmistakable.

“It’s Cameron! He’s sitting there in the dark. God, Ed, he’s so unhappy,” her voice fell and I could tell the sobbing was close again. “Is this real?”

“It is,” Ed pulled Kirsten to him again. “I’m sorry it hurts you right now, and I needed you to see that this is real. Your mother can prevent you from talking to him, but this is a connection she has no access to and cannot break. All hope is not lost.”

“Does he know, Ed? Does Cameron know I’m still here?” 

“I don’t know, Kirsten. But the connection exists between you. What message would you send him if you could?”

“I would tell him to wait for me.” Her anger and darkness were flowing back. He couldn’t blame her, “I still don’t know what you want me to DO.” 

“You’ll have to work slowly,” I warned. “But I need you to know that Jacqueline is not all powerful. She can hear and see what you do, but she cannot hear and see your thoughts without being stitched. She has no access to this dream space at all.”

“What can I do, Ed?” the sadness was so thick.

“You are now a resistance fighter behind enemy lines. I’m sorry about that, but it’s true,” I grabbed both of her upper arms and gave her a gentle shake. “I’ve just showed you where your safe house is, and that you have allies, if only you can figure out how to communicate with them. Build your memory palace and plan carefully before you act. But you can plan and act. Maybe you’re not ready today -- give the grief a few days to settle -- but do not give up hope.”

“Ok, Ed.” She still sounded sad and overwhelmed. But not so hopeless. That was progress. I’d take it. I’d be here with her every night until she figured out how to talk to the others. I am not leaving her alone again. A guardian ghost. There were worse jobs, and this one was worth doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kirsten has seen that Ed is still with her in some way in the stitch with the autistic empath Tom, so I made him an active character. Kirsten deserves to have one good parent figure still in her life. The fact that he's dead seems to bother neither of them.
> 
> If you are enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	3. Cameron

I did my best to dodge Kirsten and Jacqueline at the lab when they came in a few days after the last stitch. The fact that she couldn’t remember me was just so unbelievable. Impossible. Why had I let her do that crazy stitch? Putting her in the corpse chamber had been a mistake. Every choice and detail of the day kept swirling around my head. Why had I let her do it? Why couldn’t she remember me? Watching Star Wars movies half the night had probably not helped. And that one scene on Endor, with Han and Leia, well that had made me flat out cry for the first time in a long time. I could have sworn I felt Kirsten’s lips brush my cheek when Leia said “I know”, but that bit of wishful thinking only made me hurt more.

Three days ago, life had been perfect. Kirsten had been in my bed, naked. Finally. Mine. And now it was all gone. She barely glanced at me today walking through to Maggie’s office. Her focus was mostly on her mother, like a planet being pulled along by a star. I wanted to be happy for her. Her mother was back. Of course she had wanted her mother. But dammit, why hadn’t I been enough? Linus, Camille, Maggie, Fisher, Kirsten, and me -- we were as close as family, and better family than I’d ever had before. If she’d just said no to reversing the switch. Or not looked so hard for Jacqueline. Or not been the amazing, intense, obsessive woman that I loved? It was no good. I must have made some mistake. This couldn’t be happening.

She’d looked pale. A little gaunt? Disoriented from the memory loss? Maybe me spending time with her would help her recover? Physical problems from the stitch? Was her mother feeding her enough? Why hadn’t Maggie insisted both of them stay in the hospital longer? Kirsten always forgot to eat when she was upset. I’d already begged my mother for information, since she’d done the scan after pulling Kirsten from the corpse cassette. She’d been disoriented then too. Maureen had told him no more than Maggie had. And Maureen knew how to cut to the bone, “Cameron, unless she remembers who you are, you are no longer her boyfriend. Also, I’m seeing her officially. Any and all details of her care are covered by doctor-patient confidentiality.” Her face had softened uncharacteristically then, “I know you care for her very much, but I’ve never been able to sugar coat anything. I have no idea if her memory will ever return. For now, you’re just another stranger.” But dammit, I wasn’t a stranger. Maybe I should make them some soup?

Linus and Camille’s worried glances weren’t helping. Both of them knew me well enough to only ask if I was okay once. They even pretended to believe me when I said I was hanging in. But they knew I wasn’t, and knew asking again would be useless. I mean, they missed Kirsten too. Camille, for all she was alternating excited and terrified about moving in with Amanda, depended on Kirsten to be Kirsten. A rock. Ok, an obsessive rock. But dependable. And now there were no rules. Kirsten remembered Camille only as her slightly annoying roommate from her PhD studies. No memories of madcap plans, and wine, or even finding bodies together, or trusting her to drive a stitch through her mind. Camille had tried hard to hide her disappointment at not seeing Kirsten when stopping by to pack. We had all asked her for a report, and there was nothing to give. Camille’s air of brash unconcern was sign enough that she was really worried. Kirsten had been sleeping. At that hour? She probably needed it. Was there anything else I could do to make her better? She needed to remember.

All of a sudden, Maggie stepped out of her office with Jacqueline and Kirsten behind her, “Can I have your attention please?” The silence was instantaneous. Kirsten looked blank and held the railing as if she needed support. That wasn’t like her. Was she ok? I had no idea. With effort, I pulled my attention back to Maggie as she continued, “Obviously, Monday was a momentous day here at the Stitch Program. We have regained one of the founders of the program -- Jacqueline Stinger. I have had the pleasure to know her for 10 years before she had her accident and entered hibernation. She is going to say a few words.”

All eyes moved to the beautiful woman. She looked like Kirsten, and the lack of age difference was somewhat disturbing. I guessed hibernation had retarded aging? That was some serious tech. I wondered how it worked. “Thank you, Maggie. It is an honor to be here and I owe all of you my most profound thanks. I understand that many of you, including my daughter,” the force of her love in the gaze she gave Kirsten was palpable, “went above and beyond the call of duty to bring me back to the land of the living. Once again, thank you. Also, I find that my work has been advanced in exciting directions, so thank you for that too. Maggie has generously offered me a trial position here to see whether I can help increase the speed of the brain mapping that you are working on. I look forward to getting to know you all better.”

I glanced around at the others. Everyone’s face was curious to cautious. Linus murmured in his ear, “I’ve heard that Jacqueline Stinger is brilliant. Maybe she could help us with our next project?” I didn’t need Linus to say to know that the next project was Kirsten’s memory. “Our project.” That was Linus to a T. The best friend I’d ever imagined.

Then Kirsten stepped closer to the railing. She was smiling slightly, and her eyes were still vacant, “I guess I don’t need to tell you this, but no introduction seems awkward. I’m Kirsten Clark. I also apparently owe many of you thanks. I’m sorry to say that my memory of the past three years appears to have vanished. I don’t know you all, but Director Baptiste -- sorry. Maggie,” she looked down in embarrassment, “tells me that you have all been my coworkers, friends, and protectors over the last 3 years. That you have all been especially supportive of my quest to get my mother back to me. I have my mom again, so thank you all so much.” She was so vague as she talked. Why wasn’t she meeting anyone’s eyes? That’s not right for Kirsten. What is going on???? “I have also been told that my role here is vital to the continuation of this project. I have accepted Maggie’s offer to continue to work here, at least part time. I certainly don’t want to slow down human progress,” her laugh seemed forced. “I would also like to resume my PhD studies, since they remain close to my heart. I hope you will all be patient with me as I learn my job and get to know you all again.” There was a moment of silence before everyone started clapping and cheering. Kirsten seemed surprised, which at least read genuine. 

Maggie waved everyone silent, “That’s enough. But Kirsten, I hope this tells you how glad we all are that you are coming back to work.” Maggie faced the room again, “Kirsten and Jacqueline are going to take the week to recuperate and read up on the current data for the project. Camille, could you put packets together for them both? Would you mind delivering them tonight?” At Camille’s nod, Maggie continued, “In further changes, I am going to finish vetting Ivy, so we should expect her to start in the relatively near future. She has experience working with quantum computers and we are also going to see whether she is capable of stitching. You are all brilliant,” her eyes raked the room, “but we also are learning that not all of you may want to stay here forever. Developing backup staff who are capable of filling your roles is going to be the lab’s next major priority.” More murmuring. It made sense though. I had thought that myself. Hell, I could take a vacation. With Kirsten? Remind her of all the ways we matched each other. Fuck needing the oxytocin filter. That little fantasy got tucked away deep in my brain with Maggie’s final words, “Everyone go home and take a few days off. The last few days have been hard on everyone. I don’t want to see any of you until Monday.”

My eyes followed Kirsten as she trailed her mother out, still not quite making eye contact with anyone. Fisher got up like he was going to talk to her, but then changed direction to Maggie’s office. I wanted to chase her, and grab her, and kiss her, and REMIND HER OF US, but I didn’t. She was disoriented. She was lost. She would be back with me next week. I had won her over before. I could wait again. The feeling of that cheek kiss flared again. I’ll get her back. I have to.

I was so deep in my thoughts that I jumped when Camille put her hand on my shoulder, “Hey, Genius Boy. You ok?”

“You know the answer to that already.”

“Yes. But it seemed polite to ask again. Any word on what happened to your car the other day?

My car. I’d almost forgotten about that in the chaos. “No. The mechanic has never seen anything like it. That hose just crumbled to dust. It was the weirdest thing.”

“Well, I’m glad you weren’t hurt.”

“Me too.”

“And about that?” Camille nodded after Kirsten.

“She’ll be back at work next week. She doesn’t need some man she barely knows harassing her all weekend,” I tried to play it cool.

“So you want me to check in for you?” Camille knew me so well.

“Please please please could you?” It probably counted as begging. I didn’t care.

“Sure. I can be a slow packer.”

“What about a meal? Can I bring her a meal? Just to be neighborly? Good coworkerly?”

“You’re pathetic. Next week, maybe. And if I find an opening to invite Kirsten sooner, I will.”

“I owe you one, Camille.”

“Yes, you do. Now go home and sleep. You look like crap,” she smiled as she stalked off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is from Cameron's perspective of seeing Kirsten but her not being able to interact with her, except in the most obvious way. It's also good to see the ongoing friendship between the team, supporting each other when things are bad.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	4. Fisher

There was something about Jacqueline Stinger that I just didn’t like. I mean, I’d only spent 30 minutes with the woman? Maybe less? Not really enough time to give someone an honest chance. But still. I’ve been a cop for a long time, and learned to trust my instincts. Something about Jacqueline was WRONG. I just didn’t know what, yet.

Well, I did know he didn’t like the grimace she made when Kirsten was applauded. It was a microexpression, barely there. But it was there. She hadn’t liked that Kirsten was the popular one. That Kirsten had friends waiting for her to remember them. It was an ugly, jealous look, covered quickly. If I hadn’t been staring straight at her, I’d have missed it. It wasn’t motherly, like the rest of her act. That look said competition. Not good.

The fact that Kirsten was so obviously not ok probably didn’t help. She was a pain in the ass, but that didn’t change the fact that she was MY pain in the ass. I didn’t like seeing her like this. Whatever this was. Her tone was all politely bewildered, with a gentle smile on her face. But the eyes. Her eyes were screaming and she kept trying not to look at anyone so they wouldn’t see. Something about this whole thing was wrong. And the wrong had started the moment Jacqueline Stinger had woken up. God, I would happily have taken Robot Bitch Kirsten (to steal Camille’s nickname), as I’d first met her, over this version. That version was honest.

Maybe this is just what losing 3 years of memory looks like? It would be upsetting, for sure. Especially waking up feeling emotions in a way you had never remembered feeling them before. I’d seen her go through that the first time. It hadn’t been pretty then, but she’d had Cameron and Camille to hold her together. Right now she didn’t. But she had her mother. Surely a girl’s mother was the right person for emotional turmoil? But I just wasn’t sure. At least about this mother.

The other really obvious sign -- the one that I was trying really hard to ignore because it implied so many very bad things -- was when I had started to walk up to Kirsten. I’d wanted to introduce myself again and evaluate those eyes up close. As I’d started moving towards her, she made real eye contact for the first time and made the tiniest gesture with her hand. A gesture, combined with the terror in her eyes (and it was terror -- I was sure, damn it) that said “STAY AWAY! FOR GOD’S SAKE STAY AWAY!” Those were the eyes I’d seen on people with bombs strapped to their chests hoping to save the bystanders.

Maybe I was imagining things. It was a tiny gesture. She’d barely moved 2 fingers. And losing years had to be scary. But I did not like Jacqueline Stinger, so I changed direction and wandered into Maggie’s office, as though that’s where I’d been headed all along. I trusted Kirsten that much, no matter how much she lied with her smile.

“Hey, Maggie. Can I close the door?” I began my quest for information. For evidence.

“Sure, Fisher. What’s up?” The door swung closed, and Maggie said nothing when I flipped the lock.

“How well do you know Jacqueline Stinger?” I tried for casual.

“Why do you ask?” Maggie countered. She wasn’t one to give up information easily.

“Just collecting data on the new variable on the team,” I replied. It was totally true, if not fully honest. 

Maggie gave him her no bullshit look, “You’re worried about Kirsten too, aren’t you?”

“Am I that obvious?” I smiled at her.

“I should hope not. Do I need to remind you that I will deny everything I’m about to tell you if asked, even by anyone else on the team? And that this remains between us until I decide otherwise?” A pause as she waited for my nod. “Then, to answer your question, Jacqueline is a world-class scientist and intellect, as should not surprise you given the child she created. She is also charismatic and a skilled manipulator. I worked with her enough on the beginnings of this project to know not to cross her. She could get Daniel and Ed to do whatever she wanted them to, without a second thought. She has no morality, only steps to a goal. Dangerous. If I could have, I would have waited considerably more time before waking her up,” Maggie held my eyes so I could read the truth in them. Her smile never wavered, so anyone looking through the glass would see nothing wrong. Just friendly chatter. 

“And you’re letting this woman on the team, why?” I kept my tone and face equally light.

“Haven’t you ever heard the phrase ‘Keep your friends close ...’?” this pause lasted a few seconds too long. “I was hoping you would help me keep an eye on her. I know you’re considering relocating to DC, but… A few months with someone I can actually trust would be helpful.”

“Kirsten does have a knack for trouble, doesn’t she?”

“Like a lightning rod,” Maggie sighed.

“Do we know what the trouble is exactly?” I pressed for details. Maggie might still know more than she was saying, although what she was saying was quite enough to confirm my initial impression.

“No idea yet. But bad. I haven’t seen Kirsten that particular shade of pale since those airplane stitches,” Maggie’s smile faltered just a bit.

I had to agree. Those eyes haunted me. Pure terror. I asked the next question I really wanted an answer to, “Has she really forgotten us?”

“I’m not going to ask her,” Maggie replied. “If she remembers, she’ll tell us when she can. If not, something has that poor girl terrified, and I don’t want to make it worse.”

Terrified, I mused as I walked back to my desk. But not for herself. The Kirsten I knew was fearless for herself. She risked her brain in experimental machines. She faked NSA director credentials. She ran after suspects. If she was scared, it wasn’t for herself. She was scared for us. She was trying to protect us. Which meant she remembered. And I did not like Jacqueline Stinger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fisher was one of the most fun characters to write. I love his deep concern for the team hidden by an impassive cop face. I also wanted him and Maggie to see themselves as equals when it came to taking care of the team.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	5. Jacqueline Stinger

I watched Camille while pretending to read her packet of information. If nothing else, the girl had put together an efficient summary of the current tech and research used in the Stitchers Program. They had moved away from Project Grasshopper, I noted. A mistake. I would get that corrected over time. Their current goal of mapping the entire brain was on the right path, though. I don’t need to rock the boat immediately.

Camille was puttering around the living room and trying to make small talk with Kirsten. Kirsten had followed the script precisely with Maggie, and was clearly tired. It was a strain for her to pretend to not know these people. The girl had obviously never learned how to lie effectively. I guessed the damage from that initial stitch into her was probably part of that. The girl had had no perception of time for years, which left her on a skew with humanity. Still, it was a weakness. Kirsten would need to become a better actress to remain useful. For now, she was using the excuse of mental trauma to cover the roughness in her body language. It seemed believable enough.

Then I heard Camille, “Do you want me to tell you some stories about living together? It might help jog your memory.” I froze, waiting to hear how Kristen handled the challenge. This was dangerous territory. Kirsten had to pretend to want her memory back, and in no way give away she already had it. Was this daughter of mine up for it?

Kirsten looked up from her own packet. “Yes, please. The last I remember, you were accusing me of academic dishonesty and hated everything about me. Things seem to have changed since then?” The questioning formality in her voice was good. The link established in the stitch was holding steady -- I could hear what she said clearly despite Kirsten speaking quietly in the next room. I could even see through her eyes when I concentrated. Distance was no object to this -- that was the beauty of a quantum level connection. There was nothing Kirsty could hide from me. Perfect.

The girl Camille launched into a story about a good for nothing brother and the other boy from the lab -- Linus -- that ended with broken lamps and the brother returning stolen merchandise. Kirsten did a good job of making interested noises, but not fully engaging in the story. It was a balance, and Kirsten would need to get good at it. These children had clearly formed a bond working together, and it needed to be broken.  


What was wrong with them, valuing the stitcher so much? My anger had been bubbling all day, ever since the lab staff had met news of me joining them with interested murmurs, and news of Kirsten coming back with cheers. Kirsten just used my invention. She was good at it, talented even, but a user. I, Jacqueline, had invented it, had brought it forth from nothing. Why should they be more excited about this awkward daughter who lied so badly? Kirsten was damaged. Still useful, but dented. I was perfect, and the creator, and they had merely stared. It was unacceptable. Kirsten needed to spend less time with these people.

Suddenly, Camille’s voice dragged me back to the present yet again, “If you want to hear some more stories, I’m sure Cameron would be happy to cook and host a dinner party to tell you as many as you want to hear. We could all come. Cameron’s place always has the best wine, too.”

“Oh, that sounds fun,” Kirsten replied with more yearning than I cared for. Maybe there needed to be another demonstration tonight? “But I’m trying to reenroll in classes at the university as soon as possible. I don’t think I’ll be able to squeeze in a dinner right now. I really want to get back on track for my PhD, and I’m so far behind... Maybe once I get caught up again?” Correct response again. Kirsten had avoided the obvious pitfall. No nanobot punishments tonight. Unfortunately.

“If you find some free time, just say the word,” Camille said easily. “Cameron’s a foodie, so it’s basically a dinner party every night at his house and he loves company. It’s a container of his best chicken noodle that I stuck in the fridge. Give it a try and see if it helps you feel better.”

“Thanks for the invitation and the soup. I think I need to go to bed now. Good night,” Kirsten stood and moved towards her room. 

Camille grabbed her box, and headed to the door, “Night, Blondie.”

Thank goodness that one was gone. She’d clearly been spying on Kirsten for someone. No one packed that slowly. Maybe just the other children missing their friend, but possibly more. Maggie had said all of the right things during their meeting earlier when she offered me the job, but Maggie had deep waters and plenty of shadows to hide things in. You didn’t rise in the CIA and become a director in the NSA without them. Maggie thought more than she said and never gave you all the information. She could have sent this girl. Or maybe not. I’ll have to watch Maggie and see. Maybe I should try to get Mitchell Blair back in charge again? He’d always been easier to manipulate. Something to think about.

The university thing was good too. That had been Kirsten’s idea. She had come to me this morning and had said that she would need to find something to keep herself busy to avoid social activities with the other children. She had called them “coworkers” of course. Like most young people, she had no idea how young she and her friends really were. But the plan to go back to school was good. She’d be separated at least some of the time, and had a perfect excuse to skip any and all evening shenanigans. And programming was a useful skill. It would do until a new stitch team loyal to me was in place.

I hummed quietly to myself and went back to the research packet. 72 hours back and things were already well in hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jacqueline thinks she is the smartest and most amazing person in any room. While she is the clear villain of the piece, it's fun that she really doesn't think of herself as a villain. Yes, she looks forward to flexing her power, but it's all about serving the Greater Good so she can be as mean as she likes to these people. They're less important than the Work.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	6. Camille

I arranged it so I would finish moving my stuff the day before Kirsten was due to start at the lab again. Being at the lab would allow me to keep checking in on my roomie, and the packing was getting unbelievable. I wouldn’t have the excuse to stop by in the evenings, but I’d take what I could get. Kirsten was clearly terrified every time I stopped by and had taken to actively avoiding me. The faked attention to books about computer languages I knew Kirsten had mastered were a huge clue. She’d been expert in those languages before I ever took that first spying job for Maggie.

Why haven’t I told Cameron yet? Things were bad for Blondie. Cameron wanted to know. Probably because he would try to rush in white knight style. He’d want to rescue her. Kirsten was many things, but damsel in distress? Until I knew the whole story, I would watch and wait. Those books were a message for me, I’m sure. No matter the status of her memories, Blondie knew those languages and knew I knew. She had fixed my mistakes in one of them more than once. It had been so annoying, but she was always so competent. So if Kirsten was reading those books instead of talking to me, then she has a reason to not want to talk to me. And it’s a reason more than not liking me. Kirsten had never been one to let not liking people get in the way.

The food Cameron was sending was disappearing, so I kept bringing it. He didn’t mind the extra cooking since it was for Kirsten. Plus, it kept him busy. He needed to be busy. I had started attributing it to multiple cooks -- “Amanda made too much of this last night. Linus was testing out a new spice mix.” I’m not sure why I did that. To keep from making her uncomfortable? To not draw attention to Cameron? Not sure, but it seemed like the thing to do. And then it turned out to not even be a lie. Cameron had finally slept for more than 4 hours at a time and nothing was ready, and next thing I knew Fisher’s favorite take out was sitting on my desk waiting to go to Kirsten. (Maggie had told us all to stay away from the lab. It hadn’t happened. We’d all been there every day.) FTR, Maggie sent a tray of lasagna.

Food was a concrete thing we could do. Everyone was various levels of worried, from “she’ll be fine” Fisher at the bottom of the scale to “Let me make every food she ever said she liked” Cameron. Food wasn’t pushy. It didn’t demand conversation. All she had to do was eat it. I guess we were feeding Jacqueline too, because she was way more effusive in her praise of the food than Kirsten was. Blondie was doing her best to keep conversation with me as short as possible. When I started actually keeping track, it was clear she was doing it on purpose. No one can manage exactly 7 word interactions with someone 3 times in a row by accident. Try it. It’s a weird number of words. “Hi. Thanks again. The food is good. Bye.” or “Trying to catch up. So much reading.” Awkward, but not Blondie blunt. Just off.

As I say, Jacqueline filled in the conversational space Kirsten left for her, “Thank you so much for bringing us dinner again. We’re going to be quite spoiled. Yesterday’s stir fry was so interesting. Who sent that to us? Please give them our thanks.” The food was good, no question, but Mommy dearest was kissing up. Blondie was pushing me away with lies she knew I’d see through. Either this version of Kirsten had upped rude to new intentional levels (but not so intentional that her mother caught on -- “You’ll have to excuse Kirsten. After talking to the dean, she’ll be restarting classes at the semester. She wants to be sure that she hasn’t lost any of her skills or knowledge with this memory glitch. So much studying.”), or the message was for me. Something was wrong, but she didn’t want me to talk to her about it. Done.

Back at the lab, I kept my reports innocuous. “She’s back into coding hard core. You know nobody’s as hard core as Kirsten with a new project” and “She’s looking more solid again. That scary pale color? Pretty much gone” and “No sign of her memory coming back, but she’s still the only person I know who likes that stir fry you make. Her mother called it “interesting” but it was all gone. Gotta love the brain.” Kirsten would tell me when she was ready. I just needed to keep my eyes open.

Then on Saturday, Linus surprised us all by adding his own report, “So I had Ivy over today, and she and Kirsten have started texting. Apparently hearing she had a half sister she never knew about was enough of a pull to get Kirsten talking. She says it’s all surface stuff so far, but she’ll let me know.”

Ivy. Ok then. Pushing me away, but talking to Ivy. I took a deep breath. Kirsten must have some reason for this. And when she started talking again, it had better be a good one.

“Ivy also told me that Jacqueline has been visiting Stinger in the NSA holding facility this week. She got some kind of special permission since they’re technically still married,” he seemed skeptical. I didn’t blame him. Who wanted to talk to a man whose idea of sending a letter involved killing someone and expecting your child to read their brain? Not father of the year. Or husband, for that matter. “Ivy could go if she wanted,” Linus continued, “but so far she hasn’t. It hasn’t felt right.” My opinion of Ivy rose a few notches.

“The one really weird thing that Ivy said was that it was taking all her willpower to not go into teacher mode and correct Kirsten’s typos,” Linus said thoughtfully.

“What!?!” from Cameron.

“Kirsten doesn’t DO typos,” I was shocked. 

“I know!” Linus replied. “That’s what I told her. I’ve seen her code before. Her stuff always compiles the first time. She replied and told me that there are errors in every single text. It’s so weird.”

We all took a minute to ponder that. Another hint, I decided. Something that was wrong, but not something that would raise red flags if you hadn’t known Kirsten for years. I went with instinct -- deflect. Protect Kirsten, “Well, she did just have her brain scrambled and has lost 3 years of memory. I think we can forgive a few typos. Either that, or the problem is that Ivy doesn’t speak compiler code…” Even Cameron smiled at that. Tension diffused.

Who could I talk to about this? Cameron was too close. Linus was a terrible liar. How had he even survived at the NSA? He would tell anyone anything. Maggie must have been the one to approve visits between Jacqueline and Daniel, so huh. Possibly not the best judgement? Plus she was official. The boss. Fisher? He was an option. Or Ivy? Oh Blondie, you’re clever. Half sister gives cover for texting. Good at pattern recognition. It had to be on purpose. I got you, Blondie.

As I headed away to find Fisher, I saw Cameron smile for the first time in days, “So you and Ivy, Linus? You did hear that Maggie wants her to learn to stitch, right? How’s that oxytocin filter?” Linus was fluorescent pink. Cameron was actually approaching a laugh, “You know turnabout’s fair play?” It was good to see those two acting normal, even if only for a few minutes.

I got to Fisher’s house before he did, and so was mid-workout when he arrived home, “Hello Camille. This is unexpected.”

“Hey Fisher,” I gasped between punches. “It would probably be easier -- UNG -- if you just gave me a key -- UNG -- so I don’t have to -- UNG -- break in each time.”

“To what does my bag owe the pleasure of being pummelled?”

I stopped for a minute and took a drink before answering. “What if I wanted you to get me text messages between two people?”

“Would the two people be involved in a crime?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then asking nicely would be my first approach,” he smiled at me.

“That doesn’t work right now. In case I’m wrong.” Or worse, if I’m right. But that one couldn’t be said aloud.

“So you want me to illegally obtain text messages from two other people who are not criminals?”

“Yes,” no need to beat around the bush.

“Whose texts?”

“Kirsten and Ivy.”

“Is there any particular reason you want to violate the privacy of a coworker and her half sister, who is soon to be also a coworker?” 

“Call it a hunch?”

“Any evidence for this … hunch?” Fisher was curious.

“Only circumstantial,” I replied. 

“Are you going to run it through for me?”

“I’d prefer not to, just yet.”

“Then I’ll have to pass for now. When the evidence gets more substantial, come talk to me again.”

“Fair enough,” I replied. “Oh, and Fisher?”

“Yeah Camille?”

“Please don’t pass what I said here along. To anyone.”

“Deal,” he went inside to get cleaned up from the day and I went back to hitting the bag as hard as I could, trying not to think about exactly what kind of trouble Kirsten had found.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Camille is another character who was very fun to write. She automatically defaults to scheming and is incredibly loyal to people who are in her family. That made her a perfect character to get suspicious quickly about Kirsten's "memory loss". Also, her moving out gives her a great excuse to go to the house often. I also love the easy relationship between Fisher and Camille.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	7. Ivy

Linus poured me another glass of wine as we snuggled in together on the couch, “Do you have to try to stitch? Kirsten said she’s coming back, so... “

“You just want to to jump me,” I laughed at him. We’d decided on no sex until after my stitching trial. I wanted the best possible odds to succeed.

“Well, yes,” Linus grinned back. Then he got more serious, “But it really is hard on a person. Kirsten is amazing at it, and she’s certainly paid a price.” His eyes flickered away, but I knew what he was thinking.

“And Cameron,” I added quietly.

“And Cameron,” he confirmed, bringing his eyes back to me. “I know you and Kirsten have had your ups and downs, and are now just starting to get to know each other again, but… She’s been my friend for a while now. And she’s Cameron’s,” he struggled to find a word, “ -- everything. And now she remembers nothing, and he’s barely functional. Every time he falls asleep, he wakes up sobbing because his dreams aren’t real.” Another pause. “Talking to the dead seems to be hard on a relationship.”

“I like you a lot, Linus,” I touched his face gently. “And I am so so so sorry that your friends are hurting so badly right now. I wish I could be sure that nothing bad would happen to us.” We maintained eye contact as I continued, “But you know that that’s not realistic. Heck, totally ordinary things can happen to mess up couples, like car crashes or growing apart or a sexy jogger in the park.” I tried to lighten the tone. “I can guarantee to you that I’m not going to be stitching into any kind of living family member, nor do I expect you to kill yourself to allow me to stitch you. This trial tomorrow should be as normal as you all can make it. And I might not even succeed.”

“You’re right,” Linus forced some darkness from his eyes. “You’re right. I know you’re right.”

“Is that a movie quote?” 

Linus actually grinned, “I don’t get to be the one slipping them in often. Anyway. Given that you have decided that there is no love making tonight, I need to head to Cameron’s. I just don’t want to leave him alone too long.” 

“Good night. Give Cameron my best,” and I ushered him out for the night. God, I hoped my sister got her memory back soon. These people surrounding her life needed her. I’d always wanted a full family, and it still hurt that the sister who’d been our father’s favorite had also found this amazing family. Kirsten had all the luck. Well, expect when she didn’t. I guess I got to count my blessings for not being a child research subject with long term neurological damage. And for remembering my boyfriend.

I wanted this family, though. I wanted them to trust me and love me as they loved her. That was why I needed to learn to stitch, or failing that, do something indispensable in the lab so I could stay. And I didn’t think it would hold together without my infuriating sister in the middle. If anything, it was worse now, because she was being so nice to me while not talking to them. I knew Camille was jealous, for sure. Linus had let it slip that she was joking about me not understanding compiler code because I’d said there were typos in Kirsten’s texts. Whatever had happened to Kirsten, she was definitely making typos.

I pulled up the message chain between us. The first message was, “Maggie idforms me ahat you ane my half gister. I weuld love ko get to know you better.” Typo typo typo. And weird typos too. Not normal letters to mess up. She could read it, but it was certainly awkward.

The next one was the same, “I am pursting a PhD en computlr sciencl. I have alcays lovea math the mest. What did iou do for lour carelr in the pest?” Even worse. And the third, “I look foiward to grtting to eork with mou in the etitch lam. Maggie sbys you are good witr computers.” Such weird mistakes. And then the next three were totally error free. And the three after that had mistakes again.

Thinking about the mistakes again, and how odd they were, I went to sleep. I’d been hoping for good sleep since I had my test the next day, but I woke up with the number 8 flashing in my head. Every dream had had groups of 8 animals, shoes, airplanes, buttons. It was frantic, like a fever dream or Sesame Street segment -- not a restful night. I made coffee and stared at my phone blankly, scrolling past another error filled text from Kirsten to get to Linus’ cheery good morning when it hit. This was a pattern, wasn’t it? The errors? They had to be. I grabbed my white board and got to work. Every 8th letter was wrong in these messages. God, I’d been wrapped up in myself to not notice before. It wasn’t even a code. After about 15 minutes, I had the message from my sister, “Danger. Tell Camille I remember.” It had been the same in every group of incorrect messages.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Kirsten was still in goddam trouble, and that meant so was I.

I composed a response to her in just a few more minutes, spacing my message every 16 letters to be less obvious, “I’m excited to see toe lab today. Workink together should be fun.”

Now I just had to figure out how to get the message to Camille. If Kirsten was going through me, then normal channels weren’t safe. What was the danger? To who? Her? Cameron? Me? What could be bad enough that Kirsten was willing to lie to Cameron? And with those reassuring thoughts, I erased the white board entirely and went to get ready for my stitching test.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ivy was harder to write than many of the others. Since she's not in the show as much, I found it hard to hear her "voice". I went for classic outsider, looking at the self-involved crazy stitching world from the perspective of common sense. And the show does establish that family is a huge motivation for Ivy, so I threaded her in.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	8. Kirsten

Being back in the lab was sheer torture. Jacqueline’s breakfast conversation was far from uplifting, “I know that acting doesn’t come naturally to you, Kirsty, but I want to remind you the importance of maintaining your distance with these people at work. I know you feel that they love you, but they have not been acting in your best interest, as I am. They have been holding you and The Work back.” Jacqueline’s will surged through the connection between us, like a shock collar on a dog, “I do just want to remind you that it is not in your best interest to remember them at this time. If anyone learns that your memories are still intact, I will have to remove them.” The “removing them” thought made Jacqueline smile. I shivered slightly as I ate my cereal, trying desperately to hide my defiance.

“Please mom,” I begged, “please don’t hurt anyone. I’ve been avoiding Camille’s questions and all the social invitations. I’ll keep doing whatever you say to keep them safe.” I let some tears show. Better than she thought I was weak right now.

“So long as you behave, my Kirsty, no punishments will be necessary. I certainly won’t have to destroy the tire on someone’s car, or sever an optic nerve, or cause a gas leak. Your compliance will keep your lab mates nice and safe,” she could have been discussing the weather.

“I will do exactly as you ask, Mom,” my voice trembled again. “I’ll do the stitch they need today, and then immediately go home to work on my coding. Strictly professional.”

PING! Went my phone, signalling an incoming text message. Jacqueline had my phone on the table next to her and looked at it, “You have a message from Ivy about how glad she’ll be to start working with you today.”

I froze at Ivy’s name, praying that mom did not look at the chain carefully. I hadn’t used any kind of code to hide my message since I wanted it spotted, and if Jacqueline looked at it with her full attention, someone was dead. But I’d needed to get a message through outside channels too. I had to fight this. Ed had been correct. I needed my allies if I was going to survive as anything more than a puppet. Please don’t read. Please don’t read. Please don’t read.

“Can I still talk to Ivy today?” I managed to keep the tremble in my voice to pre-text levels. 

“Yes. That would be good. You’ll be teaching her, and also Daniel is so thrilled at the idea of both of his daughters working on The Project together. You can continue to text her and have polite conversation in the lab today.”

“Thank you, Mom. And the others? If they start talking to me?”

“Then respond to work related topics, and brush off all the social ones. I’ll be keeping an eye on you, of course.”

“Of course. Can I have my phone now? The others will think it’s odd if I’m not carrying it,” I was desperate to see if Ivy had noticed my message yet.

“Why are those things so popular?” my mother was scornful as she handed me the cell phone. “Clearly they’re not terribly effective for communication given how no one seems to be able to type without errors any more.” She wasn’t looking at me, and I took a breath to steady myself, hoping that her offhand comment did not spell terrible death or injury for one of my friends later.

Ivy had seen it! Her response -- “ok” -- was simple enough, and I hoped she’d follow through today. And also that Camille would have the sense to keep her distance after getting the message. I closed my eyes for a minute, wanting to sleep again. 

Sleep had been problematic since Jacqueline had returned a week ago. I was sleeping every night, but Ed had me lucid dreaming for huge chunks of time. “You need your allies, Kirsten. Let’s plan your next move.” He’d helped me write and memorize the error-ridden messages so I could type the string smoothly and quickly and not attract Jacqueline to the task. And after days of no response from Ivy, he’d had me look at her through the quantum spyglass and scream the number 8 at her for what felt like half the night. I’d been so mad at him that I had stormed away from that part of the dreamscape with barely a word to Cameron. Given that Ivy had finally caught the pattern, I probably owed Ed an apology tonight.

Cameron. That was still the hardest part. I missed him like breath, and I could look at him through the telescope each night and whisper messages, but had no idea if he could hear me. “I love you, Cameron,” I’d whisper. “I remember. Please wait for me. This is to keep you safe.” The list went on and on, and I imagined all the time I’d spent with him as I said them. My only comfort was that Linus was near Cameron more often than not. Linus would take care of him. The fury rose up again, thinking of the pain this lie was causing him. Once again, I beat it back. Cameron was safer not knowing for now. I’ll apologize later, I promised myself. He’ll forgive me.

The lab itself was just awful. Every second there was a second where I was putting my friends in danger. It was like I was carrying a bomb that no one could see and I had to smile all the time. I wanted to relax into my work and forget for a while, but I couldn’t even do that without letting them see I remembered. No step could be effortless. I followed my mother in to Maggie’s office, casting quick glances at the others. Camille came up to us first, “Hey Blondie. How were Amanda’s mashed potatoes this weekend?”

“They were lovely, Camille, dear,” my mother answered for me, smiling at Camille. I looked at Mom’s back and said nothing. Jacqueline was trying to make friends with Camille, and I couldn’t risk interfering. Mom continued, “Really, everyone has been so generous with us while we’ve been adapting, haven’t they Kirsty?”

“Incredibly generous,” I parrotted with my eyes over Camille’s shoulder, not daring to make eye contact. Camille was no fool, and could read me like a book. Please Camille, I begged her silently, please walk away. I love you too much to see her hurt you.

“In fact,” Jacqueline continued, “maybe once we’re a bit more situated, we could have all of you over to a thank you party?” My heart dropped.

“Thanks, Mrs. Stinger. Everyone would like that.”

“Camille, please call me Jackie. We’re going to be working together after all.”

“Jackie,” Camille smiled at her. “Anyway, what I really came over here for is to tell you that Maggie wants to speak to you in her office, and have me introduce everyone to Blondie here.” My terror spiked. I’d known this was coming, and had discussed it with Ed. Distant, polite, no eye contact, no crying. Or else. Too important to screw this up.

“Certainly,” my mother smiled again, her mask perfect. She turned to me, “Remember to be gentle with yourself today, Kirsty. I really don’t like your color.” The threats she’d fed to me all morning were sitting right behind that smile. 

“I’ll be fine, Mom,” I managed a smile back, at least with my mouth. “I just haven’t been sleeping so well. After we finish here, I’m going to go running and get myself really tired and see if that helps tonight.” Normal. Polite. Not screaming SHE IS A SOCIOPATH GET HER OUT OF HERE as loudly as I could. After all, she was a sociopath with nanobots, and they might not believe me in time.

Jacqueline sailed off to Maggie’s office and I began the gauntlet. Camille kept things light as only she knew how, “Wave to that giant over there. That’s Tim. He runs engineering and is busy today. This is Fisher. He thinks you’re a pain in the ass, but likes you alive. He sent the thai food.” 

Fisher had on his reserved cop smile, and if he’d thought anything of me gesturing him away on my last visit, none of it showed in his eyes, “Welcome back, Kirsten. This place was a lot more boring with you away.”

“Fisher. Nice to meet you,” I kept my voice steady with effort. 

He made no protest when Camille dragged me forward to Linus, “This is Linus. He runs communication and maps and filters the brains of our samples.”

“Hi Kirsten,” his smile was so hopeful and normal that I wanted to break down sobbing again. No. No. No. No. 

“Hi Linus,” I responded with the same distant politeness. My eyes stayed fixed to his monitor rather than his face. I didn’t know if I could hold the shield with eye contact. 

Camille continued, “The fact that your bounce code is ‘iheartlinus’ was totally your own idea and not something this knucklehead did to mess with you.”

“That’s my code?” I faked a laugh. “How strange. Can I change it?” Linus looked hurt. Better hurt feelings than dead I reminded myself.

“We’ll see,” Camille said. Suddenly, I felt a huge wave of rage from my mother blow through the link and I staggered. You don’t want me to stitch at all, Maggie? But you know my brain will work with the machines. What do you mean, my brain activity has gotten too exotic???

“Time to meet, Ayo,” Camille caught my arm to steady me and I was shocked to feel Cameron grab my other arm at the same time. Had he really been so close?

“Ayo,” Cameron looked at me, worry screaming in his eyes, “is our medical expert. It’s her job to keep you from getting dead.” His eyes were slightly bloodshot and he looked how I felt. Terrified and alone. Cameron. NO! TOO DANGEROUS!

“I’m fine,” I protested and tried to shake free of them, but neither Camille nor Cameron would take their hands off me as they steered to Ayo. “I just tripped.”

“Ayo,” Camille called, “Blondie here seems a little unsteady on her feet today. Maybe we could move up the pre-stitch medical exam?”

“Chelsea!” Ayo called quickly and took me from my two best friends. “Help me get Kirsten into the medical bay!” She then looked at me kindly, “Sorry, Kirsten. You’re too important to risk your health. Let Chelsea and I take care of you. It’s what we do.” 

The kindness there almost broke me. A few tears came into my eyes, but I pulled on every bit of anger to hold the distance, “If you need to run some tests, fine. But I’m fine. I just tripped.” Ayo was too professional, and probably too used to me lying to her about my health, to do more than nod once. But Cameron responded to the coldness in my voice like I’d slapped him. Hurt feelings are better than dead, I reminded myself. Again. 

As Ayo held my arm and guided me towards the med bay, I heard Camille again, this time to Cameron, “You know that question that I know the answer to? Tell me the answer one more time.”

“No. I’m not,” Cameron almost ran away. I WAS NEVER GOING TO FORGIVE JACQUELINE FOR THIS.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to Kirsten's perspective. This is trying to show the building pressure on her to both reach out to her allies, and also to not reach out (at least obviously) so that they stay safe. She's living with an emotionally abusive sociopath, but can't acknowledge that without risking the lives of her found family. She's not as helpless as she was in chapter 1, but the pressure is still very high.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	9. Camille

Kirsten’s first day back at the lab could have gone better. A lot better. In so many ways. Linus had to be in early because they were prepping an actual sample for Kirsten, and then had a donated sample that needed prepping for Ivy’s stitching trial. I asked him to pick me up on the way in because I was worried. Because Linus is amazing, he brought me coffee.

“How’s Cameron?” I asked Linus in the car.

“Do you want the real answer?” he responded, eyes on the road.

“That bad, huh?”

“He keeps dreaming that Kirsten remembers him, and is kissing him, or just laughing with him,” and then he wakes up and it’s not true. “And then he starts crying and tries to hide it from me and wants to text her a million times, so I keep hiding his phone.”

“Has he texted her?” I ask. “Please tell me not when he’s like that.”

“A few times. Total radio silence back, which is why I made him stop. Kirsten may have lost her memory, but you know as well as I do that nothing on this earth can make Kirsten Clark change course once it’s set. I don’t want him to force her into a course away from him.” Linus looked grim, “Cameron says he agrees with me, but I’m still hiding his phone a lot.” He shook his head, “Today is going to be rough.”

“And how’s Ivy doing?” I asked to lighten to silence between us. “She starts today, right?”

That got a smile from Linus, “I saw her last night and she was excited. She really wants to be able to stitch.”

“Who on earth would anyone want to do that?” I asked, mostly serious.

“That’s what I asked, too,” Linus admitted. “It’s not like it doesn’t come with some pretty scary pitfalls. She wouldn’t give me a straight answer.”

“But you have an impression, Mr. Intuitive,” I led him on.

“Ok, yes,” Linus quirked his mouth. “I think she wants to be in the center of things. She has complicated feelings about Kirsten, but there is no denying that her stitching has made us all really tight. It gave Kirsten a real family, and I think Ivy wants that.”

“Why doesn’t she just learn to do your job instead? Or mine? I bet Ivy could hold a tablet and stand around like a champ.”

“I think that’s the fall back plan,” Linus laughed. “Maggie did say she wanted to get us all some back-up.” I spent the rest of the drive teasing Linus about oxytocin and working on his filters, making him blush. Someone needed to be in a good mood today.

At the lab, Cameron was worse than even Linus had told me. He was jumpy, and edgy, and looked like a single touch would break him into a million pieces. 

Maggie intercepted me before I could go to him, “Camille, I’m going to need your help today.”

“Sure, boss,” I looked at her. “Is there a tablet that needs holding?”

Maggie was on edge too. It was CIA-assassin on edge rather than grieving neuroscientist, so I probably would have missed it if I hadn’t spent so many hours with her these last 3 years. Maggie actually laughed at that, “More than that today. Today, you’re crowd control. When Jacqueline and Kirsten come in, send Jacqueline to me and introduce Kirsten to everyone. Keep it light, and for god’s sake, don’t let Cameron start crying in front of her. She needs to stitch this sample, and it’s your job to make sure that can happen.”

“Done,” I replied.

“And then,” Maggie continued, “we’ll have Ivy arriving. She needs to go to Ayo for a bunch of pre-stitching medical checks, and we’ll do her test either after the first stitch, if it’s successful, or the second stitch late this afternoon. She will also need introducing around. I know she’s not your favorite, but she was instrumental in bringing in Stinger, so play nice.”

“Gotcha, Boss,” I replied and immediately headed to the supply closet to implement stage 1 of my plan. With a giant box of kleenex and bottle of hand sanitizer, I headed over to Cameron.

“What on earth?” Cameron looked totally bewildered at my approach. 

“I brought you supplies. FOR YOUR COLD. That is making you sniffy and crabby,” I made eye contact and kept staring, waiting for his brain to kick in.

“My cold? - oh my cold,” light finally dawned in his eyes. I was giving him plausible deniability with a woman who he adored who’d forgotten him. 

“Yes,” I replied. “Your cold. And you probably should hang back today, because giving Kirsten this cold would not be a very nice way to welcome her back to the lab.”

He looked unhappy, but nodded, “You’re right. I’ll hang back today.”

Linus nodded approval to me as I walked away. Jacqueline and Kirsten walked in only a few minutes later. As usual, I tried to talk to Kirsten, but she was even more monosyllabic. She also continued in her desperate quest to never see another person’s eyeballs again. Jacqueline -- excuse me, Jackie -- was turning on the charm. That woman was a player if ever I’d met one. And since I’d been one, I knew what I was dealing with. Sure I’d love to come eat at Kirsten’s house while you somehow terrorize her into total silence. Sounds fun!

I’d hoped that separating Kirsten would break that terror some, but if anything, it got worse. Kirsten was doing her best bitchy impression, and pushing people away hard. Her heart wasn’t in it, but it was good enough to fool Linus, that sap, and Cameron, who was already broken. I’d lived with truly bitchy Kirsten, though, and this was not the real deal. B+ for effort, though!

When she almost fell, though, I got really worried. It was like someone had hit her, “Time to meet, Ayo,” I called out as I grabbed her arm. Cameron moved so fast that I couldn’t hold him back. His eyes had been trained to her every move, and this was … weird. And in a lab where we read the brains of dead bodies, weird for us is saying something.

Cameron helped support her to Ayo, even though she clearly wanted us to let her go, “Ayo,” he echoed the first time they’d met, “is our medical expert. It’s her job to keep you from getting dead.” He was looking for recognition. She was absolutely frantic to have him away. What the hell, Kirsten? Why was she so afraid to be near Cameron?

Ayo, being herself, ignored the tantrum and, with Chelsea’s help, pulled Kirsten to the medical bay, with its wonderful sound-proof doors. I turned my attention to crisis management. Maggie was still locked in with Jackie, where they looked to be trying to out-polite each other. Maggie was being a bitch, then. Good. Jackie was bad news, and needed handling.

Cameron was back at his station with his headphones in. I really hoped he’d fired up some Doctor Who already to calm himself the fuck down. Instead, he’d probably hacked into the med bay computers and was following along with Kirsten’s exam, but I could hope. She had been here 20 minutes and it was already a long day.

When Ivy arrived an hour later, it was almost anti-climatic. Linus cheered up, so that was good. Cameron faked a smile for her, so that was something. Maggie had Jackie holed up in an office, looking at something on a tablet. “Hey, Ivy,” I greeted her with my patented sarcastic enthusiasm. “Welcome to the madhouse.” 

She smiled at me, “Hi Camille.” And then she grabbed my hand and gave it a giant squeeze, which was weird. “I’m so glad to be here!” I almost dropped the piece of paper I felt in my hand as she let go, but got it in time. I discreetly slipped it into my pocket for later.

“Glad to see you, too!” I grinned much too brightly. “I’ve been told you need a million medical tests, but your sister decided to almost fall over walking in the door, so that’s going to have to wait a bit. I’ll introduce you around, and then set you up with the information for Kirsten’s stitch today so you can follow along. Your test is happening after she’s done, however long that happens to take.”

I got Ivy introduced and settled in the lounge before I finally escaped to the bathroom to look at the paper she’d slipped me. The message was simple, “Kirsten said to tell you she remembers. And there’s danger.” Good girl, Blondie! Communications open, message received loud and clear. Let the scheming begin.

Kirsten passed the medical checks, and the stitch was the least stressful part of the day. If anything, her clarity was higher than it had ever been. She ID’d the murderer, and Fisher took off at speed after him. He offered to let Kirsten come, but she pleaded exhaustion and laid down on one of cots. Cameron had gone instead. He’d called Kirsten her actual name the whole stitch, which was just another sign of how distressed he was, so it was good that he was away. Kirsten had wanted to go home, but Maggie had held her until they were sure a second stitch wasn’t going to be necessary. Jackie had watched the stitch with great intensity, and then had taken up residence next to her sleeping daughter.

As soon as I dropped Ivy off with Ayo and the million needles and sensors carefully laid out for her, I went to Maggie, “I’ve got an errand or three to run. Are you good for the next few hours?”

“Go, Camille, but I want you back in 2 hours tops.” Maggie put her hand on my arm and added, “You’re earning that raise today. Keep it up.”

I escaped the pressure chamber, had a lovely flirty conversation with Amanda about who would scream more tonight, and hit up a bookstore. I made it back with 7 min to spare.

Fisher had just called in that they’d found evidence to convict the murderer, so people were scurrying every which way switching out the samples. The murder victim would go back to Amanda now. I wished my day was done too, but I knew better. Kirsten was on her way to the elevator when I ran into her, “Are you off, then? Is Jackie going with you?”

“Since they found the murderer, I can go home now,” she said woodenly. “It’s been a long day, and this stitching can be disturbing. I’m going to have a long run and then go back to my coding. Mom is going to stay to watch Ivy’s trial.”

“Maybe you should fit some reading time in there,” I offered. “Catcher in the Rye always used to be your go-to calm down reading.” I didn’t dare say more, since I had no idea how Blondie was being watched. She slipped on the elevator and I hoped the hint would be enough.

Ivy’s trial was more successful than I was expecting. She saw some of the memories, although most were blurry and strange. She never managed Kirsten’s trick of overloading all the monitors, so that was nice for everyone. She didn’t die. Not a seizure or coma in sight. It got chalked up to a win, with more trials and experimentation to come.

I approached her afterwards, “Good job today. It’s not easy to face the memories of a dead person.”

“Thanks,” she replied, looking tired and pale. Linus was next to her, clearly planning to take her home as soon as possible, and probably sit next to her bed and worry all night. It would at least be a change from him sitting next to Cameron’s and worrying.

“I thought I’d get you a present to celebrate,” I handed her the copy of Catcher in the Rye I’d spent my break time searching for. “Reading this is how Kirsten frequently recenters after a stitch. I thought it might help you, too.”

“Oh,” Ivy immediately held the book close. Hopefully, she’d understood. Plus, there was the bright green post it note inside with my message if Ivy needed any more hints. 

The post it note said, “Tell her: NO SHIT SHERLOCK. WHAT DO YOU NEED? PS, both of you now have the same editions of this book.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I continue to love Camille so very much. She takes her role of protector very seriously, under the jokes and sarcastic remarks. I also love that Maggie trusts her to manage everyone, so Maggie can both pretend she's unaware and also focus her attention on other things.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	10. Fisher

I swung back by the lab just to check in before heading home for the night. It had been a stressful day and I was hoping to catch Maggie alone for a debrief on what was actually going on. I’d already placed 3 bugs in the living room and kitchen of Kirsten’s house today before I called in catching the perp and finding the evidence. I wasn’t sure why Maggie had wanted them placed -- Kirsten always did a daily bug sweep -- but the note on the seat of my car in Maggie’s handwriting had been clear. And how did Maggie break into my car to leave them, anyway?

The first person I saw was Camille. She looked collected, as usual, and seemed to be finishing up some paperwork before leaving. “How are you doing, Camille?” I asked her.

“Just fine, Fishy. This paperwork is toast, and then it’s home to Amanda and some serious relaxing,” she waggled her eyebrows when she said “relaxing” just to be sure I wouldn’t miss it.

“Any dinner for Kirsten tonight?”

“Jackie said they didn’t need anything,” real worry flashed behind her eyes, just for a second. “Cameron was too wrecked to cook, anyway -- Ayo actually sent him home with some xanax and a remote monitoring pad told him to sleep for 8 hours or she wouldn’t let him back in the door tomorrow. Linus is taking care of Ivy. Apparently stitching is hard work. Who knew? I’m no cook. Maggie’s been here all day, and you’ve been chasing bad guys.” She paused for a moment. “I’m pretty sure Kirsten froze the lasagna leftovers, in individual portions, no less. They’ll be ok.” Her brash smile came back.

I didn’t push, and let her devil may care attitude hide the worry. “What about that other thing you asked me about?” I asked. Why had she wanted those text messages anyway? What did she think she’d find? Did she suspect too?

“Not to worry, Fishy. It’s handled,” she smiled at me.

“Am I going to have to bail you out for cloning their phones illegally?” I smiled back, trying to keep the depth of my interest from showing.

“Well,” her grin got bigger, “that would be telling, now wouldn’t it?”

“I still want to hear your hunch sometime,” I said.

“Sometime,” she nodded at me. “Not tonight.”

I was glad to hear about Cameron. That boy needed a good night of sleep. He’d been a wreck, and had no defenses against bitchy, distant Kirsten. He’d lost the last defense he had the day he’d died so she could try to stitch him. But she had to remember them all. It was the only way Kirsten’s behavior made any sense. She’d never been normal, but always internally consistent. This pattern meant she was afraid for them, and probably for Cameron most of all, since she seemed intent on pushing him away the hardest. He just hoped Maggie had some actual information.

Maggie was typing up what looked like reports when he came in and locked the door, “Hey Fisher.” Her tone was casual and busy. “That guy put away safely?”

“Another job well done by the stitchers,” I matched her tone. “How did the new blood do after I left?”

“Pretty well, actually,” Maggie actually looked pleased. “Ivy’s not a natural, like Kirsten, but she might end up being as good as Marta was. We have more tests and simulations lined up for her.”

“That lucky lab mouse,” I responded.

“It’s not that bad,” Maggie looked a tad defensive. “And she volunteered.”

“And I say again, that lucky little lab mouse.” I looked around, “Is Jacqueline still here, or has she left for the day too?”

“She headed home after Ivy’s test. I have her helping me select stitcher cases, because we don’t have a good algorithm for them that doesn’t use Kirsten’s brain. And Kirsten’s brain seems to have gone offline for this purpose. It’s a concrete change since her stitch with Jacqueline.”

“Does that mean anything for Kirsten’s health? Or her well-being?” I asked, curious again.

“Not so far as we know. It’s just different. We’re keeping an eye on her.”

“And that brings me to the other little job you asked for me to take care of today. Are you going to explain this one?”

“For that, we need to take a walk. Is everyone gone?” Maggie looked out her window to be sure no one was in the main area. She led me out of the office, and to one of the most distant lounge areas. She walked to an ordinary beige wall, and moved a picture aside to reveal a retina scanner. A door appeared out of nowhere, and she led me through, saying nothing until the door closed behind us.

“A panic room in our secret lab?” I asked, impressed by the paranoia.

“No, Fisher. Well, kind of. It’s a Farrady cage. No electronic signals can move in or out except through the dedicated port. Anything I unplug and leave in here is totally unhackable.” Just to prove to me that her paranoia well thoroughly intact, Maggie pulled out a bug sniffer and ran it over both of us and the room before continuing, “This is where I’m having the data from the bugs you planted today directed. You can watch the playback with me. I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet.”

Maggie pulled a stool up to the one connected monitor and I stood behind her. The bugs were apparently video as well as audio because a split screen showed me three grainy pictures of the inside of Kirsten’s home, the time stamp in the bottom right corner. We fast forwarded until when Kirsten arrived home just after 2:30 in the afternoon. She walked in, phone in hand, and I heard the familiar whine of the bug sniffer she’d programmed, god only knew how.

When it alerted, I expected the bugs to end their short lives, but something surprising happened. Kirsten put her phone down without doing anything and walked into the other room to change into her running gear. When she came back, she moved into the kitchen and stood with her back to one of the bugs I’d so carefully hidden, “She knows exactly where it is,” I whispered.

“No question,” replied Maggie, with all of her intensity focused on the screen. Kirsten was holding up her phone as though looking at it, and typing rapidly. She was carefully holding it so the screen was completely visible to us. “Fuck me,” whispered Maggie.

“What’s she doing?” I asked.

“She just deleted the bug sniffer. And I’d be shocked if there’s any trace left that it was ever there.”

“Did she just give us permission to spy on her?” I was shocked.

“I’d say yes,” Maggie looked grim. “Cmon Kirsten. Tell me what’s going on. I know Jackie’s still here with me. Why won’t you tell me?” I don’t think Maggie was even aware she was talking out loud then. 

Kirsten, making both of us crazy, switched her phone to music, and left for her run. We fast forwarded. When she came back, she sat clearly in line with a different bug. I was a little hurt by how easily she knew where they were. She pulled out a coding book and also a piece of scratch paper. She kept her head steadily pointed at the book and began to write on the paper without ever looking. Maggie pushed a button to zoom in on the paper, and turned white. It said, “She’s in my head. She can always hear me. DANGER!”

I collapsed on a stool, “Is that even possible?”

“I don’t know,” Maggie lips were the thinnest line possible, “but given the precautions Kirsten is taking, let’s believe her.”

We watched in silence as Kirsten crumpled the paper she’d written, careful to never look at it until it was a crumpled ball, and throw it in the trash. She then went to the fridge, and took a drink of milk from the carton. She made a face and poured the milk in the trash on top of the paper. “Good girl, Kirsten. Accountability. You didn’t destroy a message. You got rid of spoiled milk. Careful is good. Careful keeps you alive, you poor child.” 

We fast forwarded again until Jacqueline came home. It started off normal enough, “Hello, Kirsty! I see you took that run.”

“Hi Mom,” I couldn’t see Kirsten’s face, since it was still pointed away from the bug, but she sounded nervous. “Ivy texted me. Maggie gave her some computer exercises to work on, and she wants me to help her. Can I do that?” Kirsten held out her phone and Jacqueline took it and clearly read the messages.

“That will be fine, dear. Thank you for checking with me.”

“No problem, Mom. I just don’t want any trouble.”

“No trouble today, Kirsty. You did well. That Cameron is still far too clingy, but you got him away from you fast enough.”

“If I keep pushing him away, he’ll give up soon, Mom. I promise. All of them will.”

“That’s good, my clever girl. I’m not as sure as you are, so I’m going to suggest to Maggie that we find someone to replace that boy soon. He’s far too emotional. Maybe just a push to get him out of the lab for a bit.”

“Mom, please. Don’t. Please don’t. Cameron will back off,” I had never heard Kirsten Clark beg before. I never wanted to again. Of course, not for herself. I’d been right about that. I wasn’t sure what the lovely Jacqueline was threatening, but Kirsten did.

“Well, we’ll give it some time then. But if things don’t even out soon, my dear, I will have to reevaluate.” And with that totally menacing bit of vagueness, the topic shifted quickly to dinner. 

Maggie and I stared at each other in horror. Maggie broke the silence first, “I have to get Cameron out of the lab before he gets hurt. That’s why she let us see this.”

“Yep,” I agreed grimly. “Our proud Kirsten is begging for help. What are our options?”

“Poison or involuntary detention,” Maggie was decisive.

“Who exactly are we talking about poisoning or detaining?” I asked, looking for clarity.

“Cameron, of course,” said Maggie.

“This is helpful?” I asked again.

“Detention,” Maggie sounded happy. “He’s a terrible actor, and I don’t have to worry about calibrating the poison just right. Probably Linus too. He’s not a great actor either.”

Sometimes I worried about the people I worked with. And not just Kirsten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More fun with Fisher. It just made sense that Maggie would ask him to hide some bugs in Kirsten's house. And it would make sense that bug-aware Kirsten would realize the origin and start using them to communicate. I also like this chapter because it pits Maggie's "ends justify the means" attitude squarely against Jacqueline's "ends justify the means" attitude. While both have the attitude, the value of human life within calculations is vastly different. To use a D&D metaphor, I'm writing Maggie chaotic good and Jacqueline chaotic evil.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	11. Linus

It had been an all around terrible day. I was worried about everyone, and there wasn’t enough of me to go around. Cameron clearly needed a friend. His best friend. That man was such a wreck. I had actually been the one to go to Ayo and insist on her giving him something to make him sleep tonight. And I reprogrammed the remote monitoring patch to give Ayo appropriate information about sleep as opposed to just normal vital signs. Cameron hadn’t noticed me harass Ayo, or do the programming. He’d been watching Doctor Who and hacking into the medical bay computers to get all the updated health information on Kirsten.

And Kirsten. Camille kept acting like Kirsten was fine, and losing 3 years of memory had just upset her. But first, I’ve known Kirsten for 3 years. Nothing about her was fine. She was closer to losing it than Cameron, and that was saying something. That woman was TERRIFIED (in all caps, for sure) of something. And Kirsten never scared easy, so whatever it was was bad. And probably involved Cameron. That part’s a hunch, but I’d bet on it. Added to that, I’ve known Camille for 3 years. She was lying through her teeth and doing everything she could think of to keep people from looking at Kirsten too hard. Camille was playing interference, which meant she also knew Kirsten was so far from ok that they might need an entirely new atlas (or GPS satellite) to find her.

Then there was Camille. She and I didn’t work, but I knew her. She played it cool, but once you’d gotten into her heart, you stayed put. And Kirsten had climbed right in. Hadn’t she done that to all of us, though? Their family wouldn’t be right without Kirsten. They were a family. And Camille’s family was under attack from an unknown force. Camille was going to war. I could see the signs, not the least of which were bright red lipstick and higher shoes. I wanted to sign up. What did she need me to do? How could I help? Camille had to have a plan. But so far, she was lumping me in with the masses, and it hurt.

And finally, Ivy. She was new in my life, but important. She was smart, and savvy, and liked codes, and liked me. And today she had tried stitching for the first time, probably to try to be like her sister. It was a terrible reason, but having her close seemed great, so… Plus she’d wanted it. Nothing I could say would change what she wanted, so I kept my mouth shut. It had hurt her, seeing the memories. She was shaken. I did not have space in my calendar for anyone else in my life to get shaken. Ivy had wanted to stay up all night working on some computer exercise, but I’d convinced her to at least nap first.

So all of this was going through my head as I sat next to Ivy’s bed, feeling sorry for myself. And that was when we were stormed by NSA agents. With tranquilizer darts. Not really my best day ever. They darted Ivy before she could really wake up, and another dart hit me seconds later. At least I got some rest?

I woke up sometime later in an uncomfortably familiar room. It was the NSA detention center. Cameron was snoring loudly on the other couch. No one else was around. As the mental fog cleared, the important questions rose to the surface. What was going on? Where was Ivy? Why were we being detained? Had we broken some obscure but vitally important protocol? WHAT WAS GOING ON?

And that was when I finally got mad. It doesn’t happen fast, but eventually I get there. I wobbled to my feet, found a camera and started yelling, “What the fuck? Seriously, WHAT. THE. FUCK???? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?” I think I kept on like that for at least 5 minutes, before I stormed back to the couch. Cameron was still snoring. What had they hit him with? I checked his pulse. Steady and strong, so at least not dying. 

The door finally cracked about an hour later and Maggie walked in, “Linus, good. You’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“What the fuck, Maggie? What did we do? Why was I kidnapped? Is Ivy here? Is she ok? What did you do to Cameron? WHY THE FUCK WAS I KIDNAPPED AND LOCKED UP????” My volume rose with each question until I was flat out yelling. I didn’t care. I was already locked up. What else could they do to me?

Maggie’s voice was quiet, but the intensity was like a whip, “Linus, sit down this instant. I will answer your questions, but I will not be yelled at.”

All the fight went out of me, and I collapsed back on the couch. Cameron snored happily. I said nothing, just looked at her. She still looked pressed and put together, which was impressive for 2 am.

“Do you want some water, Linus? This is going to take some time.”

“Sure. Whatever,” I knew I sounded like a surly teenager, but I didn’t care. Kidnapped and detained does that to me.

Maggie moved to the fridge and got two bottles of water. She pulled up a chair and handed me one. “First of all,” she began, “Ivy is just fine. She’s at her home, in her bed. I have an officer staying until we’re sure the tranq has worn off. You and Cameron were my targets tonight, and I had to get you here as quickly as possible.” 

“You could have just paged me, Maggie,” I still sounded pissed. “I answer pages, even in the middle of the night.”

“I could have,” Maggie said unapologetically, “but I didn’t. I don’t know the extent or parameters of the surveillance being used against us, and I wasn’t willing to take chances.” Her eyes moved to Sleeping Beauty on the other couch. “As for Cameron, he did take the xanax as ordered -- and thank you for that, Linus. I know you pushed Ayo, and it was the right call. Apparently the tranq and the xanax have combined and are giving our friend a truly restful night of sleep. We’re using the monitoring badge you reprogrammed to be sure there are no harmful interactions. He’s fine. He might have a headache or feel groggy tomorrow, but nothing serious.”

I relaxed slightly as I heard that my people were ok, but I was still angry. “Why are we here, Maggie? What did we do wrong?”

“You did nothing wrong. But Kirsten finally asked for my help tonight in keeping that lug,” she pointed at Cameron, “safe. You’re here because you’re his best friend, and your acting ability is questionable. I need to keep you both safe if I’m going to extract Kirsten from this mess unscathed. And I may very well need your help.”

“Kirsten asked for help?” I was stunned. “How? She’s not saying more than 4 words to anyone at a time if she can help it. Even during the stitch, she kept cutting off her comments to Cameron.” I looked around again in bewilderment rather than anger, “Maggie, what is going on? Why is Kirsten so scared? Why is she pretending to have lost her memory?”

“You caught that, did you? I wondered if you’d figured it out. You’re more intuitive than most give you credit for, Linus.” She paused and took a drink, “I don’t know the whole story, but I will tell you what I do know so far if you promise to fill in Cameron tomorrow when he eventually wakes up.”

“Done.”

“Something has clearly been wrong with Kirsten even since the stitch where she recovered Jacqueline Stinger. She claimed to have lost 3 years of memory, the entire stitch program, but her behavior was inconsistent. She started out trying to reestablish a connection to Cameron through their childhood meeting on that same day. By the following day, she wanted no connection whatsoever with any of you. She stopped speaking. She became passive.” Maggie grinned for a minute, “Kirsten Clark is many things, but she has never been passive. The distress signals were out for anyone who knew the signs,” Maggie was more serious again. “I just didn’t know what the problem was, and so was unsure of a correct solution.”

I had noticed all the same things. I hadn’t spoken about them to Cameron, because he was broken enough already, but the signs had been … worrying. “Ok. I agree so far,” I said. It was a peace offering, and Maggie accepted it.

“Camille’s reports, while interesting, were not terribly reassuring during the week of ‘rest time’. Camille is very thorough, and included all the books Kirsten was reading during her visits. Camille did not notate that Kirsten knew all of these languages for 2 years at least before becoming involved in the stitch program, although I know she knew. Camille became protective, and I knew she saw the same things as me.”

“That’s Camille,” I smiled. “God help you if you cross her, but no one looks after family better.”

“Because of this, I had bugs placed in Kirsten’s home so I could monitor directly. Those were placed today.”

“Camille?” I asked.

“No, other channels. But placed today.”

“Kirsten found them immediately?”

“Of course. She scans for bugs more often than you brush your teeth.”

“What did she do?”

“She pretended not to find them. And then, in full view of a camera, deleted the bug sniffer program off her phone.”

“SHE DID WHAT? That program is one of her pride and joys. She was so proud of being able to manipulate the phone EM signature to notify her of bugs,” I got up and started pacing.

“Clearly, Kirsten was giving us permission to watch her. I’ve never seen a clearer sign of consent.”

“Shit. It’s bad, isn’t it? She hates being watched.” Cameron kept snoring, his face too sharp in the neon lights. This whole night was so surreal.

“Kirsten then sat in front of a second bug, and wrote us a message. It said, ‘She’s in my head. She can always hear me. DANGER!’ She then carefully destroyed it, all before Jacqueline Stinger returned to the residence.”

“What the FUCK?” I said again. But not angry this time. Trying to make sense.

“As of right now, my best bet is that somehow Kirsten and Jacqueline got their minds intertwined in that very unusual stitch. And that somehow Jacqueline can spy on Kirsten all the time.”

“Is that even possible? How????”

“I was rather hoping you could tell me that, Linus. You and Cameron are the closest things to experts we have.”

“I’ll need both their brain scans. And access to the quantum computer. And some earplugs, or Cameron to stop snoring,” I ticked off things I needed on my fingers.

“I’m not done, Linus. It gets worse.”

I sat down again. “How worse? What’s worse than no privacy inside your own head?”

“The footage from the bug continued once Jacqueline returned to the residence.”

“What did she do?”

“She threatened Cameron in some way if Kirsten did not push him away from her fast enough. I don’t know what weapon or means she has access to, but Kirsten begged her,” Maggie paused for emphasis. “Kirsten begged her to give her a few more days to shake him off before Jacqueline gave him a ‘push’. She did that knowing the bugs were active. She was begging me,” Maggie was as angry as I’d ever seen her, “to keep him safe.”

“No wonder Kirsten’s been so afraid,” I whispered.

“No wonder, indeed. I cannot definitively confirm that Kirsten has not lost her memory. But I can confirm that she wants Cameron safe. So I arranged to have him brought to the safest place I know. And to have a partner who, working together, might be able to help him figure out what happened to her and how to undo it.”

“It’s all good, Maggie,” I said quietly. “I’m sorry I yelled.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t warn you first,” a smile was back at the corners of her lips. “Being kidnapped is always alarming. For the record, I’m telling the rest of the lab that I have banished you two from the lab for a week for mental health reasons by throwing you both on a company jet last night. They’ll know I mean Cameron, and sent you for moral support. You’ll have 30 min of green screen vacation pics every day to text out to the others to maintain your cover. I’ve bought you a week of safety and work time. I need you to work a miracle.”

“Are you telling Camille the truth?” I asked. “She’s ready to go to war over this. Having her on our side would be helpful.”

“I believe Camille and I will be having a conversation tomorrow. In fact, she may already have set up another communication channel with Kirsten. At least, I hope that’s what she accomplished today,” Maggie smiled like a shark now. “That girl has good instincts.”

“I’ll tell Cameron what’s going on when he wakes up, but he’s going to want to talk to you himself.”

“I’ll stop by again tomorrow night,” Maggie confirmed. 

“And my supplies? My work stuff?”

“Will be delivered within the hour. Were you serious about the earplugs?”

“Yes! You can hear him. How could you even ask if I’m serious?”

Maggie laughed again and left. I sat in the boring room and took a minute to feel sorry for Kirsten. How would that even feel, to be connected to another person? To share the inside of your head? And share it with someone who was threatening your family? We’re coming for you, Kirsten. Your family is coming for you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To the best of my knowledge, Linus is the only Stitchers character to grow up in a functional family group with loving parents. In my mind, that makes him the most able to be empathetic and compassionate towards others since he himself always had both empathy and compassion waiting for him at home. Being an outsider in the world taught him to watch people. This means that Linus is in absolute hell, with almost every person he cares about in huge turmoil. Having Camille underestimate him is another blow. So it would make sense that when Maggie grabs him, he would finally crack and get angry. It also makes sense that when things are explained, he'll let go of that anger and be glad to have something concrete to do that might fix his world.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	12. Cameron

The xanax had pushed me into sleep quickly, and the dreams started almost immediately. They were weird in the way only dreams are. Changing scenery, morphing characters. Like being stuck inside a kaleidoscope. Then there was a sting? And suddenly I found a clear space in the dream. I was awake. No. But I knew I was dreaming, and everything was crystal sharp and bright. Kirsten’s house was in front of me, so I knocked too many times on the door.

A white-haired, balding man opened the door, “Cameron! You made it. Kirsten will be so happy to see you!” He looked familiar.

“Who are you?” I asked. “Do I know you?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” the man smiled. “I’m Ed Clark.”

“But you’re dead,” I responded. Probably not terribly polite to point that out, actually.

“Of course I am,” the man’s smiling was getting annoying. “But someone has to guard Kirsten. And Kirsten has such an unusual brain. Anyone who loves her can choose to stay.”

I didn’t even know what to say to that drivel, so I retreated, “You said I could see Kirsten?”

“Of course. I expect her any time now,” the man looked at his watch. “She’ll be so happy to see you.”

“No, she won’t,” I replied bitterly. “She doesn’t remember me.”

“Don’t tell me you actually bought that pot of hogwash?” the man looked shocked. “She’s been telling you how much she misses you every night.”

“You must know that because this is my dream,” I tried logic. Linus knew about the dreams of Kirsten every night, but he was most decidedly not here. I hadn’t told anyone else.

“It’s not your dream. This is Kirsten’s dream. Tonight’s just the first night you’ve figured out how to visit. The drugs are probably helping,” the man looked thoughtful.

“Drugs? I’m not on drugs,” why was this man so able to make me defensive?

“Of course you are. First, the xanax. You should really thank your friend Linus for that. He told Ayo you needed it, and he wasn’t wrong. And then Maggie had the commandos use tranquilizers on you before moving you to the detention center. The combo is doing interesting things to your brain. I think it’s why you’re here.”

“This must be my dream, and I’m not being detained anywhere. I haven’t done anything to piss off the NSA for at least 4 months.”

“When you wake up, and find yourself in the detention center, then you’ll know that I’m telling you the truth,” the man smiled. “Skeptics are the most fun.” The man looked at his watch again, “This is Kirsten’s dream, and she will be here soon, and she does remember you, and she will be thrilled to see you.”

I wasn’t sure what to say or do next, so I stood there like an idiot for a long minute. I started to walk towards the door, just as it burst open, “Ed? Are you here?” It was Kirsten.

“I’m here, Kirsty,” the man’s smile grew and grew. “I have a surprise visitor for you tonight.” He motioned for me.

“Cameron?” her jaw dropped. “Are you real? Are you really here?” 

“I don’t know, Stretch,” I replied. “This is very strange. Are you really here?” She responded by throwing herself into my arms and bursting into tears. I grabbed her tight back. She felt real.

“I’m so sorry, Cameron. So so so so so sorry. I couldn’t tell you that I remembered. My mother -- Jacqueline -- keeps threatening to hurt you if I don’t force you away from me. I’ve been so scared I would screw up and someone would die. And it would all be my fault.”

“So, you really remember me?” I asked. This was the best dream I’d had in a while. Tomorrow was going to hurt when I woke up.

“I never forgot you for a second,” she whispered into my neck. Her hot breath tickled. And she kept crying and holding me as if she never wanted to let go.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Kirsty, but I do want to give you a quick update before I step away,” the man was back, messing up my fantasy.

Kirsten took a deep breath and turned her head to look at him, “Ok Ed. Fill me in.”

“Maggie reviewed the footage from the bugs and has removed Cameron,” he nodded at me, “and Linus to the NSA detention center to keep them safe. She’ll tell everyone tomorrow that they’re on a mandatory mental health vacation. Ivy was also drugged when they kidnapped Linus, so she won’t message you tonight, but she definitely plans to use the Catcher in the Rye book code. Camille got your message and made sure you both have identical editions. Through the computer coding is probably safest. Jackie won’t be scanning the lines as closely as the text messages.” I wondered what I’d eaten to have such a strange dream. Not bad, with Kirsten wrapped around me, remembering me, but strange. The man was continuing, “Once you’ve caught up some more, fill your friend in on the nanobot problem. Linus appears to have all his work tools, so having the information when Cameron wakes up will give them a jump on working on it.”

“Ed, you’re amazing. Thanks for watching for me today,” Kirsten loved this man. I could see it between them, like a cord. Maybe?

“I’ll step out now,” and he did.

Kirsten turned back to me, and held me even tighter. “I’m so sorry, Cameron. I love you so much and I’ve been hurting you, and I am so so so so sorry.”

“Why have you been pretending?” I asked, torn between anger and bewilderment and joy.

“Jackie made me. She took control of the stitch in the first moment we touched minds. She threatened all of you if I didn’t fake a memory loss.” Kirsten was crying again.

“So why did you keep it up when she wasn’t around?” 

“Because her mind is linked to mine. She can hear and sometimes see everything I do. I get strong waves of her emotions through the link, but so far she hasn’t responded to mine at all. She’s the stronger of us for sure. She has the perfect spying system and there is so little I can do. I’ve been so afraid for you. Thank God Maggie kidnapped you.”

“I’m not really kidnapped,” I needed to assert myself. Order in this too bright chaos.

“Ed says you are. So you are. That means you’re safe,” Stretch smiled at me, and I didn’t care anymore that this was a dream. “She won’t be able to hurt you in the detention center.”

“How could she hurt me anyway?” I asked the question for form’s sake.

“The nanobots in her brain,” Kirsten said, like I was supposed to understand.

“Ok. What about them?” It was a dream. Nanobots. Sure. Ok.

“She can reprogram them with just her brain. Remember the carbon eating ones we saw? She can do that without a computer. After I touched your heart that first day, she showed me she was serious by using a few to destroy a hose in your engine so your car broke down.”

“But that was just a fluke. The hose must have been old,” I was trying to convince myself now.

Kirsten just looked at me, “Sure. A hose just happens to crumble to dust when you did an entire engine refit last year.”

“It could happen.”

“No,” said Kirsten. “It was Jacqueline, and her nanobots. She’s threatened to destroy tires while the car is moving, or start a gas leak at someone’s house, or even sever optic nerves. Thinking about ways to hurt you all makes her happy,” I finally recognized the terror I’d seen in Sparky’s eyes.

“Shit,” I replied. “That is scary. So, she can spy on you all the time and hurt people with her brain?”

“Yes.” 

"Your mother's a comic book villain," I said. 

Kirsten just looked devastated again for a minute. But then she perked up, “But you’re locked up nice and safe now. With Linus. I just need to protect Camille, and Ivy, and Maggie, and Fisher now. And all of them know that I have my memory, so they’ll work with me.”

“All of them know? How come Linus and I were the only ones who didn’t?”

“I’m pretty sure Linus knew too. Just you, Cameron.”

“I’m smart. That’s not possible,” I asserted, feeling uncomfortable.

“Sure, handsome,” Kirsten smiled up at me. “But ask Linus tomorrow. He’ll tell you.”

“This is the strangest dream,” I said.

“It really is,” Kirsten agreed. “But it’s the only dream I’ve ever remembered and Ed makes sure it stays just how I leave it.”

“Was that really Ed Clark? He’s dead.”

“Yes, it’s Ed. And yes, he’s dead. He calls himself my guardian ghost. Without him, I would have given up.”

“I’ll be more polite to him next time,” I said.

“I really hope there is a next time,” Kirsten looked both happy and sad. “Usually I can only see you with the spyglass. And I tell you things, but it didn’t seem like you believed them.”

“I love you, Kirsten Clark. I will come back if I can,” we both knew it was a vow.

“For the rest of the time we have tonight, want to come sleep with me?” Kirsten motioned towards her bedroom. “I find that this lucid dreaming leaves me terribly tired. I need to get some real sleep, and I always sleep best with you. Please? Just sleep.”

“I would love some real sleep with you, Sparky. I’ve been so tired,” and so I crawled into bed with Kirsten and fell asleep from the dream with her curled up on my chest. When I woke up again, it had the feel of the real world. I was hungry. I needed to pee. And Linus’ music was blasting at top volume through the space. WHAT? 

I opened my eyes. I wasn’t at home. There were drop tile ceilings. The music was definitely there. I was on a blue couch. I stood up and saw Linus intent on something on the other side of the room. I wobbled a little unsteadily to my feet, and found the off button on the speakers before Linus noticed me.

“Cameron!” he screamed, “you’re awake! Finally!”

“Are you going to take those earplugs out?” I used a normal tone and gestured towards his ears. He pulled them out sheepishly.

“In my defence, you were snoring really loudly.”

“Linus, are we in the NSA detention center?”

“Yes,” he looked worried, waiting for me to explode, “but there’s a good reason, so please don’t start yelling. I’ll explain if you make breakfast?”

“I think I already know,” I said quietly. “Kirsten asked Maggie to keep me safe from her mother and so Maggie kidnapped us?”

“How did you figure that out? I yelled at everybody for at least an hour last night before Maggie came in and explained it to me,” Linus looked annoyed.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, Buddy,” I shook my head.

“Try me,” said Linus. “I’ve already spent 4 hours trying to wrap my head around how Kirsten and her mother’s brains ended up linked.”

“I had a dream, and Ed Clark told me. And then Kirsten came in, and apologized for lying to me. Also, I know now what Jacqueline Stinger is using to threaten us that has Stretch so scared.”

“Ed Clark, as in Kirsten’s dead guardian?”

“Yep.”

“And he told you all of this?”

“Yep. And told me I’d believe him when I woke up not in my own bed. And here I am.”

“And Kirsten apologized? So you’re ok with her having lied?”

“How long did you know she was lying for?”

“It was the only thing that made sense, bro. She had to be lying about the memory loss.”

“Did everyone know but me?” even I thought I sounded whiny.

“I don’t know about Ivy and Fisher, but Camille and Maggie definitely knew. I put Fisher as probable.”

“Kirsten says they both know,” I told Linus.

“Ok. That was some dream you had. We’ll go with it being true because I have no other explanations for how you know this shit. And how you’re suddenly ok.”

I realized Linus was right. Sleeping next to Kirsten had settled me. I was ok again. “Linus, let’s talk about nanobots.”

“Sounds fun! Oh, and FYI, we have green screen vacation pics in an hour, so you should get cooking. I’ve been up all night and need fuel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I needed a way for Cameron to get past his grief and get into problem solving mode if I was ever going to get this story resolved and a lucid dream seemed a logical choice. I've set up that characters have a quantum connection if they've been connected through a stitch and love each other. That means that Cameron should be as connected to Kirsten as Jackie. Plus writing the mix of surreal and matter of fact that make up a dream is fun. Linus doesn't know what to make of Cameron's dream, but his friend has information he shouldn't have and if a lot more emotionally stable, so he goes with it.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	13. Maggie

I managed 4 hours of sleep after seeing Linus in the detention center. I’d meant to wait until this morning when they were both up to visit, but when the guards called me and told me Linus kept yelling obscenities at the cameras, I’d known I couldn’t wait. I could not afford to lose Linus to despair or anger. I couldn’t afford to lose any of them.

Fuck Jacqueline Stinger. Every time that woman crossed my path, things got complicated. Last time, her influence had weakened all the safety protocols on Project Grasshopper and 22 people had died. Not to mention turning my relationship with Ed Clark from a sure thing to distant acquaintances. Ed had died before either of us ever found out how to fix that damage. I’d dreamed of Ed a few nights ago. It had been so clear. He’d said he was sorry, and I’d been right all along, and he regretted losing me. Dream Ed had also thanked me for defending Kirsten. “I can see how much you love them all, Maggie,” he’d said, “I can see it. Keep defending Kirsten for me. Her coming into my life was the only good part that came of losing you.” I woke to find my pillow wet from tears.

This morning I wasn’t crying. I was pondering how to eliminate Jackie. I knew hundreds of ways to kill people. Really, once you’d had assassin training, the amazing part was that people mostly kept living. But what I didn’t know was how she could hurt my team, how she had frightened Kirsten. And until I knew that, I had to hold off, except in case of last resort. All of the last resort tools were already in my office, so required no special preparation.

My email alerted, and I looked at the first batch of Cameron and Linus “vacation” pics. They were good. Cameron actually looked happy in some of them, which was huge. Apparently xanax, tranqs, and a lumpy couch was just what the doctor ordered. Or Linus had been suitably convincing this morning. Either way, it was good to see his mood lifted. Not to mention that having him safe would give Kirsten space to move. She clearly was fighting whatever was inside that blonde head, but she would never risk Cameron. She won’t be happy about risking any of us, really, but Cameron was definitely her weakest link. I bought you some space, Kirsten, but I need you to feed me the play. I’m still working mostly blind.

I’d slept on a cot in the monitoring room. I didn’t actually expect any insight this morning from the bugs because Kirsten wouldn’t know I’d acted until after she got to work. But this was Kirsten in a battle for her own brain with Jackie Stinger. I couldn’t assume. The whole concept was ludicrous. If Kirsten hadn’t written that note, I’d never have believed it. But as soon as she had? Well, it all made a twisted kind of sense. With that lens, Kirsten’s behavior moved from erratic to logical. How do we kick your mother out of your head for you???

Kirsten made it to the kitchen for breakfast before Jackie. While she opened cabinets, looking for breakfast, she managed to end up facing one of the bugs. Her hand was flat near her mouth and she moved it forward and a bit down. It looked purposeful. The fact that Kirsten made the same gesture to both of the other bugs confirmed it. It was sign language. Kirsten had just thanked me? For what? She couldn’t know yet that Cameron and Linus were safe. Could she? Who would have told her? What is going on in your head, child???

I couldn’t watch any more for this morning, so the mystery would have to wait. Ivy would wake up to an email time stamped yesterday afternoon (before her texts to Kirsten about computer exercise help) with appropriate exercises in them. There was now activity on Ivy’s computer confirming that she had opened and looked at them, also before her first text to Kirsten. You want computer exercises to cover your communication? Done. I was a little smug about that. That had taken some doing.

Just as I finished putting on another freshly pressed suit, the proximity alarm at the top of the elevator shaft chimed on my phone. Camille was early. Perfect. 

I met her from the balcony outside my office, “Good morning, Camille. You’re early.”

“I can’t get ahold of Linus or Cameron. Is something wrong?” that was Camille -- straight to the point.

“Cameron needed a vacation. I sent Linus to accompany him,” I started with the story. Camille would never believe me if I gave her the truth up front.

“I talked to Linus last night. He was going to make sure Ivy rested and then go check on Cameron. There was no mention of a vacation,” Camille challenged me.

“It was impromptu. I made the call about midnight,” I smiled.

“Linus would still have texted me,” Camille insisted. 

“So maybe I had him kidnapped,” I pretended to be defensive. “He woke up on a lear jet on his way to the beach. With Cameron. He’s not going to complain about a week in Mexico.”

Just then Camille’s phone pinged. She looked at the message. “Linus just sent me a pic of Cameron asleep in a really nice airline seat captioned ‘Surprise vacation!’”

“Well, that’s what it was.” I pretended to open, just a touch, “Cameron was going to crack, and I couldn’t send him on vacation alone. He would have sat in the hotel room and worried while watching Doctor Who. Linus will be the perfect distraction.”

“You kidnapped them to send them on vacation?” Camille had reached shocked amusement.

“Cameron needed a break.”

“So we get another week of lab vacation?”

“Oh no. You’ll be piloting any stitches, and we’ll try Ivy and Jacqueline at Linus’ station. Linus would have hovered, anyway, so this is a two birds, one stone situation.”

“I’m piloting? Me? All week?” Camille almost squeaked.

“You’ve done it before. The only way for you to get better is to practice.”

“With Ivy or Jackie doing the mapping? What if something goes wrong?”

“Maybe we’ll even try Kirsten there, with Ivy stitching. And as for going wrong, the first batch will all remain under 2 minutes, so you can bounce them if you have to.”

“I can’t wait to tell Linus that Ivy will be touching his computer. And Cameron!”

“Don’t bug them too much, Camille. I want them thinking about vacation, and not the lab or Kirsten.”

“Just 1 -- ok, maybe 3 -- texts and then I’m all business, Boss.” I was satisfied as Camille made coffee in the break room, texting happily.

Next step: convince Camille to deal me in on the communication between Kirsten and Ivy. Convince Jackie that it was pure coincidence that I swept two lab members away from her. Oh, and run a stitch lab with an untrained back up crew on 4 hours of sleep. A regular Tuesday, then. Thank God this place had coffee. Lots of coffee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like Maggie because she is morally ambiguous and dangerous and still on the side of good. Her whole professional life is a mash-up of "desperate times call for desperate measures" and "the ends justify the means". She has the power and authority to get away with totally ignoring all rules but the ones she sets herself. Her own rules for herself are never broken. She also manipulates and delegates with ease.
> 
> I made her the love interest Ed Clark mentioned once because of the torn pic. Plus it gave her a connection to Kirsten's real parent as opposed to her biological nightmare parents. I like that she is willing to trust Ed even after his death.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	14. Jacqueline

The girl Camille was actually bouncing when Kirsty and I entered this lab. “Guess what! Guess what! Guess what!” She looked like she was about to explode.

“I have no idea,” I replied. “Please tell us.” It was too early for that kind of enthusiasm.

“It’s the BEST! Maggie decided that Cameron and Linus needed a vacation, so we’ll be doing the stitches without them. I’ll be driving the stitch! You and Ivy will be training on mapping and communications! And Blondie here will stitch! Or Ivy will stitch and Blondie will map! GIRL POWER!”

I glanced at Kirsty, and her eyes were fixed on Camille. What emotion was in those eyes? Amusement? Well, the girl was being ridiculous. Relief? She had been frantic at the thought that I’d hurt that boy. Fear? I liked the fear there. It was so easy to fan the flames. At some point, I needed to get Kirsty back into the corpse cassette. The connection between us wasn’t as complete as I wanted it. I couldn’t feel her emotions, only see and hear what she did and said. I knew she could feel my emotions. And at night after she’d been asleep, I’d pushed into the connection to see what I could see, and there was a solid wall blocking me. I didn’t like it. Kirsty seemed broken as she stood slightly behind me, not speaking, but there might still be a spark there. I don’t like sparks.

“What do you think, Kirsty?” I asked her, giving her permission to speak.

“It sounds interesting,” her tone was dull. “Is it safe? This stitching thing sounds like it can have a lot of dangers.”

“Maggie has a bunch of boring, keeping us all safe, guidelines for our practice runs this week,” Camille toned down her enthusiasm about 2 notches. It was still obscene. “Oh, yeah, she wants to talk to you. Ivy just got here too.”

The four of us gathered in Maggie’s office. Without the accident, it would have been my office. Maybe it still could be? Once I was indispensable to the lab, Maggie could certainly have an accident of her own. I thought about how I’d redecorate while she talked, “As some of you will have heard already, Cameron and Linus are on an impromptu vacation.”

Ivy looked skeptical, “Linus says you kidnapped him and sent him to Mexico. I woke up with an NSA agent in my kitchen.”

“Well, you accidentally got hit with a tranquilizer dart when my team was encouraging Linus to leave with Cameron. We had to be sure you woke up with no complications.”

“I still don’t understand why you didn’t just ask him. He loves Cameron, and would have gone.”

“Eventually. But he would have argued. Cameron would have argued. This was faster and easier,” Maggie tried to reason with this girl. Why, Maggie? Why waste your time? You’ve gotten weak over the years. But Maggie continued, “We all know Cameron was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Sending him on vacation alone would have yielded Doctor Who and worry. Linus needed to go. I made that happen. I’m sending the jet back for them in a week.”

“Can I use the jet sometime to be forced to go on vacation in Mexico?” Camille. Of course. “I’ll even let you shoot darts at me first.”

“As tempting as that is, Camille, we have work to do. With Cameron gone, you will be driving any and all stitches for the next week. I know Cameron’s been training you for a while now. Are you ready?”

“Oh, yes, Boss Person,” Camille almost begged. Pathetic.

“That leaves us with Communications -- Linus’ station. Jacqueline,” I focused at the sound of my name.

“Yes, Maggie?”

“I thought you might be a natural fit for communications. You have extensive experience in brain mapping, and identifying the various emotional hotspots.”

Bitch. She knew I wanted to pilot, but this girl Camille seemed to have slipped ahead of her there. That could change. “Of course I’d be willing to learn that, Maggie,” I kept the anger out of my tone. Kirsty cowered very slightly and I enjoyed knowing the bubbling fear I was causing in her. 

“Excellent. I’ll also need you to help me select between donated samples and simulations for these training runs.” At least there was one job better suited to my talents. I nodded, and Maggie continued, “I’m planning on switching out Kirsten and Ivy in the stitches this afternoon. In the meantime, Ivy, you work on those computer exercises I sent you yesterday. Kirsten, I don’t have much for you until after lunch.”

Kirsten stayed blank and nondescript, “That’s fine. I brought a book.” The top of Catcher in the Rye stuck out of her bag.

Ivy sounded like she was swallowing surprise as she replied, “The computer exercises. Of course.” Lazy girl, thought you could get out of them? Maggie’s not that big a pushover. Daniel’s first daughter continued to disappoint me. “I didn’t get to start them last night, possibly due to tranquilizer dart?” The girl expected Maggie to feel bad about it. It was clear Maggie didn’t, “Anyway, Kirsten said she could help me with them.”

“Kirsten, can you do that this morning?”

“Oh yes. I like coding,” a ghost of a smile hit her pale face.

“Done,” Maggie seemed pleased. “Jackie and Camille, I’ll need you with me. Ivy and Kirsten, get to work and we’ll let you know when it’s catsuit time.”

I quickly grew to hate Camille as we worked together. She turned from a happy-go-lucky child into an annoying conscientious scientist as we were looking through samples and simulations. She wanted every choice justified, explained. She refused to bow to my experience, especially on anything she perceived as a safety issue. She insisted on moving in tiny steps, constantly expressing concern for both Kirsten and Ivy. That was not the point! The point was that the stitchers were part of the machine. They were just an organic computer filling in until the real tech became advanced enough to replace them.

I did not get my way. Ivy and Kirsten’s cropped tech chatter coming through the link didn’t help. It made no sense, and finding yet another arena where Kirsten could shine was annoying. Daughters were not supposed to eclipse their mothers. And I didn’t want to sever the connection with Ivy yet. I needed to regain Daniel’s trust first. I needed allies. But soon, I thought. Soon. Things will be different. And I closed my eyes and imagined. It was really so simple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jacqueline is finding not being the top dog in the lab emotionally stressful. She's responding as good sociopaths do by making the people who are vulnerable around them miserable, and enjoying the power the misery brings them. Her self-control also seems to be wavering. 
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	15. Ivy

When Maggie mentioned the computer exercises, I just about choked on my coffee. Those had been pure invention the day before. How did she even find out about them? Of course, I’d woken up with my boyfriend kidnapped so she could send him on vacation, which was totally crazy. Right? And I’d been shot with a tranquilizer dart in the process, which was not ok. Right? Everyone else just kind of nodded when Maggie explained what she’d done, and that included Linus. Who was now in some undisclosed part of Mexico, keeping Cameron from having a mental breakdown. But that still left the very polite NSA agent in a black suit sitting at my kitchen table this morning to be sure I woke up with no bad side effects.

I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised to find the email with those computer exercises timestamped from before I texted Kirsten, and opened and downloaded, once again from before I texted Kirsten. Maybe I really do want to go back to teaching? Or just computers? I really wasn’t sure I was ready to hand my life over to the agency, as seemed expected. None of this was ok. I wanted to start screaming that they were all crazy and storm out … but I didn’t. 

One look at my sister (and when had Kirsten really moved into that role in my head?), and I knew I was staying. And would probably say thank you to Maggie later for the computer program, and possibly even the kitchen agent. Kirsten had been terrified ever since her mother had woken up. I hadn’t realized how bad it was until I saw her in the lab yesterday. And somehow, us talking was important. Important enough for Maggie to give some geek an impossible job while I slept last night. So I would stay, and I would talk. And I would stitch, or run communications, or whatever Maggie asked, at least until my sister was her usual pain in the ass self again.

The computer exercises were ostensibly brain modeling software. Taking brain scans and building maps of memories and emotional hotspots. The messaging protocol was reasonably well hidden, but Kirsten and I both found it in minutes. It was labelled CITR Protocol. I guess Maggie decided to give us something faster than an actual book code to work with? I programmed my end to export my messages to text message so I’d see them on my phone instead of on-screen. Kirsten did something, and linked all of the messages to her to a location array. It made all messages to her show up as glowing brain maps. I couldn’t read them, but it seemed to work for her. Sometimes she had to play the changing map 3 times, but her responses always made sense, so she was reading them somehow. The secured email of the transcript of our conversation to Maggie seemed to come built in. Kirsten added Camille to that list. Well then. Who needs privacy?

We kept the surface chatter inane, and the interesting stuff was all in the chat. I started directly, “Camille said, ‘No shit sherlock. What do you need?’” I’d meant to send that the night before, but that first stitch had been surprisingly disturbing. I might have slept the night away even without the NSA invasion.

Kirsten almost started crying at that. I could see her brace herself against the tears, “I love you Camille.”  
“Seriously, though,” I typed back, “WHAT IS GOING ON?”

“Jackie linked to my brain in the stitch. She can see and hear through my senses. Thoughts private so far.” I goggled. There wasn’t another word. Jacqueline had literally highjacked her own daughter’s brain? No wonder Kirsten kept her eyes on brain maps while she typed. Before I could think of a response, she continued, “She wants to distance me from everyone in the lab and has threatened to hurt or kill you all if I don’t do what she wants. She made me pretend to forget.”

“Why can you talk to me?” I asked, curious through the horror.

“She has plans for our father. Us being friends is her opening manipulation gambit. Right now you’re probably safe. Stinger loves you.” Probably. Great.

“What’s the danger? What could she do?” I probed further. I was sure this is what Maggie really wanted to know too.

“You know how she and I have nanobots in our brains?” No. I did not. Dad must have glossed over that part when telling me about stitching. Kirsten continued, “Normally you need a quantum computer to reprogram them. She can do it with her brain.”

I stared in confusion. Kirsten elbowed me, and I managed a giggle and showed her a terrible meme Linus had sent me. 

“What could she do with them?” I finally asked.

“Anything. She destroyed the hose in Cameron’s engine after I talked to him. She’s threatened to do a tire next, but wait until the car is at speed to do it. She says she could cut someone’s optic nerves. Or eat through a gas line into their apartment or house.” Kirsten looked paler just typing this out. Shit. No wonder she was scared. Her fingers moved again, her eyes locked on me, “Every time she thinks of a new way to hurt someone, she giggles.”

“Who has she threatened?” I didn’t really want to know, but Maggie needed this info.

“Everyone but you and me. Cameron, Linus, Camille, Fisher, Maggie, even Amanda.”

“How immediate is the threat?” Once again, I really didn’t want to know the answer.

“Very. I don’t know if she has the willpower to wait more than a few more days without actually doing something. Ed said she was always ruthless, but she may have actually gone crazy in hibernation. Bare minimum she’s become a full blown sadist.” I had no idea who Ed was, but I let it pass. 

I took a minute while we worked over an actual brain scan to wonder if maybe Kirsten was the one who had gone crazy. Linked brains with a D&D wizard who could kill with her brain? It just seemed too crazy. And then I looked around and realized I was about to try to read the brains of several dead bodies. This place made my sense of reality wonky. I’d let the others figure it out.

“How do you think she needs to be stopped?” I asked.

“Deactivate the nanobots.” Then she added another baffling addendum, “Cameron should already be working on that. He said he would when we talked last night.”

I gave up trying to make sense of Kirsten or her problems, and worked with her instead on the brain scans. By the end of the day, we were making passable maps. Stitching was put off until the next day because all of us newbies were slow at the prep work, and Camille had turned into a safety hard-ass.

As I walked through the door to my apartment, I was relieved that kitchen agent was gone, but very sad that Linus wasn’t here to hold me. I really wanted my boyfriend. Who I could remember. And who was real, and even mostly made sense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the perspective of an outsider, Maggie's (and everyone else's actions to be honest) have got to be baffling and disturbing. If you're using common sense, Kirsten going crazy makes more sense than her mother linking to her brain. Only love and Ivy's family loyalty is keeping her from running.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	16. Camille

“Maggie needs us tonight,” Fisher said through the phone. I’d just settled on the couch with Amanda, and groaned at his words.

“Are you sure this can’t wait?”

“No waiting,” I knew I wasn’t going to out-stubborn him from that tone of voice. “Can you get to the lab or do I need to pick you up?”

“Come pick me up,” I sighed. “My feet feel funny after today.”

“Change your shoes, then,” nothing if not practical, Fisher. “I’ll be outside in 15.”

He was prompt. “Why am I going for a ride with you at this time of night, Fisher?” I asked once we were in the car. “I could be cuddling my incredibly gorgeous girlfriend instead of this.”

“Maggie didn’t say,” he hedged. 

“But you know. Spill!”

“I want to hear your guess first. If you’d really thought this was a waste of time, you’d have put up more of a fuss.” Damn you, Fisher, with your eyes that see too much.

“Do I have to?” He nodded. “Ok. It has to be about Kirsten.”

“Too easy,” he pushed. “It’s always about Kirsten.”

“I’m not saying anything else until I get the green light from the only person whose opinion matters right now,” I dug in my heels. I couldn’t imagine Fisher being on the wrong side of whatever was terrifying Kirsten, but I also really didn’t want to be wrong.

“Fair enough,” he backed off. “If it matters, I agree with you.” We rode in silence for a minute.

“Is Ivy meeting us there?” I asked.

“Maggie didn’t say,” Fisher replied.

“So that’s a no. Go get her Fisher. We’ll need her.”

“Maggie wanted us there fast.”

“Tell her there’s a delay. I’m not doing whatever this is without Ivy along.” Since Ivy was the only one I knew Kirsten would talk to, she deserved to be in on whatever scheming Maggie had planned for tonight.

“You don’t even like Ivy.”

“No. I don’t. But she needs to be here.”

“You have to talk her into the car. I’m not Maggie and refuse to kidnap anyone.”

“Done.” More silence until we arrived outside of Ivy’s apartment. “Wait in the car, Fisher.”

He didn’t argue with me. It was the first time I’d been to Ivy’s apartment. It was a middle of the road building and there was a flower wreath on her door. She’d probably made it herself. I knocked.

“What do you want?” Ivy asked when she opened the door. She’s switched to yoga pants and her bra was off. She was done for the day.

“Adventure awaits,” I replied with patented sarcastic charm. “You need to come.”

“What is it with you people? I just want to sleep.”

“Maggie’s called a meeting. She didn’t invite you. I’ve decided you need to come,” what else was there to say?

“What is this about?” her face closed in.

“Not entirely sure. My guess is your sister. And since she’s actually talking to you, you need to come.”

“She emailed you a transcript of what we said today, along with Maggie. Didn’t you see it?”

I pulled out my phone and checked. It was in the spam folder. Fuck. I’d missed that. Sorry, Blondie. I’m trying to keep up.

“You should still come,” I pushed. I was sure she needed to be there.

“Fine,” it was good to see that she really did care about Kirsten.

“Excellent,” I grinned. “Fisher is waiting in his car downstairs, and he refused to have anything to do with kidnapping you.”

“At least someone knows that kidnapping people is illegal.” I was quiet because she had a point. Going from grifter to working for the NSA had given me a weird relationship with the law.

The car ride to the lab was quiet, except for me swearing as I finally read what Kirsten and said to Ivy. At the lab, Maggie glared at me as she transferred us all to a windowless van. Ivy started to protest, but Maggie got her way, “I didn’t ask you to come. You can wait here, or travel in a black hood, or just ride in this nice, comfortable windowless van.” Ivy chose to come.

The van pulled into an underground parking lot about 30 min later. My cell phone immediately lost signal and wifi. Fuck. I’d seen this before. “Maggie, did I just get Ivy permanently detained?”

“It would serve you right if you had,” she responded. She was still mad at me, but probably not locked up forever mad. The security detail waiting outside the door wasn’t really a surprise, although Fisher was not a fan. He’s never a fan of people who take his gun. “This way,” commanded Maggie. We didn’t really have a choice.

The cell door was familiar. Shit. Maybe I had made her locked up forever mad. Or locked up forever protective custody? The security detail made it clear that waiting outside was really not an option, but Maggie was going in with us, so there was still hope. We walked through the door, and I smelled … crepes? Those were Cameron’s crepes.

“Hey, Maggie,” Cameron’s voice came from the kitchen. “You made it. Linus and I are just taking a quick break.” 

“I brought reinforcements,” she called back.

“Mexico, huh?” I looked at her. She shrugged.

Linus stuck his head out of the kitchen and grinned, “Cameron’s making another batch. IVY!” His arms were around her so fast, “You’re safe. Maggie swore you were, but I was worried.”

“You’re not in Mexico,” she was so confused. “But the pictures you texted me?”

“We had green screen vacation pics this morning. I’m here with you now,” Linus smiled at her.

Ivy was having none of it. She screamed, “WHAT IS GOING ON????”

“That’s really an excellent question,” I replied in the sudden silence. “Care to fill us all in, Maggie?”

“Everyone come sit down and we’ll talk,” she led us towards the couches. Then, more quietly to Linus, “How’s Cameron?” I probably wasn’t supposed to hear. I didn’t care.

“He was great this morning, but he’s getting shakier again. He’s worried about her.” Her obviously meant Kirsten.

“And that idiot is worried about him,” Maggie rolled her eyes. “I wish I could swoop her to safety as easily. What a mess.” Maggie assumed in-charge voice again and got everyone except Cameron seated. He stayed at the edge of the kitchen, messing with food. “It’s time for all cards on the table. Linus, why don’t you start us off.”

Linus looked nervous for a second as all attention turned to him, “The stitch that brought back Jacqueline was unlike anything any of us has ever seen before. Two living people, one in a coma. At first, everything seemed to be fine except that Kirsten had lost a giant chunk of her memory.” This wasn’t anything we all didn’t know. Linus continued, “But Kirsten started to act weird almost immediately. And not just like she didn’t remember us. Like she was terrified to talk to or interact with us. Something felt off. And then Camille started covering for her hardcore, so I knew you’d caught something too.” Linus looked at me.

“Was I that obvious?” I asked.

“To me,” Linus replied.

“She was ‘studying’ code books for languages she had probably mastered at age 15,” I admitted into the silence. “She’d helped me with those languages before she and I were ever friends, long before she met the stitchers program. Every interaction with me was exactly 7 words, and that’s hard to do. She was terrified. Kirsten Clark has never been afraid of anything in all the time I’ve known her. It’s one of her best and worst traits. But there is one exception. If someone else was in danger,” I looked at Cameron. “Sorry, Genius Boy. I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know where the danger was coming from and you’d have rushed in.”

“I’m pretty pissed I missed all of this,” Cameron looked away. “I guess I was the last to figure it out.”

“You were too close,” Maggie cut in. “Camille, please continue.”

“Well, I was trying to figure out how to communicate with Kirsten in a meaningful way, when Linus let it slip that she’d been texting with Ivy here.” All eyes turned to Ivy, including mine. “More than that, there were typos. Blondie doesn’t do typos. You had to be to the communication channel. I wanted to access your text messages and see, but you contacted me before I could manage it.”

Ivy sighed. “The typos spelled a message. It took me an embarrassing number of days to notice. The message was ‘DANGER. Tell Camille I remember.’ So I did.” She looked back at me. “You got me Catcher in the Rye so we could move to a more subtle book code, and I assume hinted the same to my sister?” I nodded. “But before I could get started with that, I had an unexpected full night of sleep and woke to a computer communication protocol that hadn’t been there the night before,” Ivy was staring at Maggie now. “How did you know?”

Maggie took over effortlessly, “I caught hints that all was not well, and had Fisher plant some bugs in Kirsten’s home.”

“She scans for those --” Ivy and I both said at the same time, and then stopped as suddenly.

“That’s what I said,” grinned Linus. “Cameron would have said it too, but he was snoring.”

“I don’t snore,” Cameron sounded defensive. 

She did scan for them,” Maggie ignored Cameron. “And found them. And deleted her bug sniffer from her phone without destroying them.”

“Shit,” I said.

“The bugs told us that Jacqueline was threatening the lives of everyone in the lab, and most especially Cameron, to keep Kirsten in line. Kirsten also indicated that there was a long term link established between her and Jacqueline during the stitch, so that Jacqueline could spy on her all the time, whether they were together or not.” Maggie looked grim, “I’ve never even imagined something like this, so I needed data. The two best people to get that data for me were Cameron and Linus.”

“So that’s why you kidnapped them,” Ivy breathed out. 

“Yes. I couldn’t risk any delay. Plus, having Cameron away from the lab would have to reduce the pressure on Kirsten, who is as tightly strung as I have ever seen her.” A pause, “Have you two geniuses figured out anything for me yet?”

Linus, still holding Ivy, answered, “I’ve found some weird mirroring in the brain scans that might -- and I do mean might -- be the physical basis for the link Kirsten told you about. If this is the link, I still have no idea how to break it without doing irreparable harm to Kirsten’s brain. But we’ve actually spent most of the day working on nanobots.” Linus looked at Cameron.

Maggie, Ivy, and I all sucked in our breaths like we’d been punched. “How did you know about that?” I got the first response.

“Cameron said Kirsten told him in a dream last night,” Linus kept the skepticism out of his voice. “But based on your reactions, what am I missing?”

Maggie took over again. She looked at Ivy, “At the same time I kidnapped Linus and Cameron, I also decided to make your life easier with an actual communication protocol in a language I knew Kirsten could modify as she needed. The two of you talked today via that program.”

Ivy again, quietly, “Kirsten said that Jacqueline could modify the nanobots in her brain to do pretty much anything without needing any kind of computer. She had used them to damage the engine of Cameron’s car the first night, and was threatening worse. She needs the nanobots neutralized so that all of you will be safe.” Ivy paused again, and then continued, “I was worried that Kirsten was the one who had gone crazy.”

Fisher spoke up for the first time, “I heard the threats through those bugs. Kirsten isn’t crazy. Jacqueline Stinger is bad news.”

Maggie again, “Which brings us back to you, Cameron. How did you really know about the nanobots hours before Kirsten told anyone, so far as I can tell?”

Cameron blushed, “You’ll all think I’m crazy. Linus certainly does, even if he did a great job humoring me today.”

“Not crazy, bro,” Linus said. “Just not really understanding either.”

“I don’t understand either, but here goes. With all the drugs last night, I had a lucid dream that I was at Kirsten’s house. Ed Clark, the man who’d raised Kirsten? Remember him? Well, he met me at the door and said that I was in Kirsten’s dream. He said that he was still her guardian even though he was dead, and that I’d been kidnapped by the NSA to keep me safe.” Cameron looked around, “I told him he was crazy, and I was in my bed. He told me I’d know he was telling the truth when I woke up.” He looked at Maggie, “He turned out to be right.”

Linus cut in, “Seriously, Maggie. He wasn’t even surprised.”

“Anyway,” Cameron spoke, “the dream continued and Kirsten showed up. She told me she’d been lying, and said sorry a lot, and told me about the nanobots. I just kept thinking how sad I was going to be to wake up in my own bed, because this was a great dream. But I woke up here. And so I believed the dream and have started to research how to stop nanobots.” There was silence for a whole minute.

Maggie broke it, so quietly, “Ed Clark said he was looking out for her?”

“Yes,” Cameron stared back at Maggie, clearly confused that that was her only question.

“Good. Ed’s a man of his word.” Maggie shook her head, like banishing a ghost, and continued in a more normal tone, “So, any progress on the nanobot front?”

“Still working on it,” Cameron was clearly relieved to be back to hard science. “I’m still working on general info since I haven’t been able to track down the exact specs for the ones Jacqueline has. Generally, an EMP would probably do it, but that would destroy the whole lab and most of a city block by the time we’re sure it’s big enough. It seems like there ought to be something more discrete.”

“We have two hackers here,” Maggie was back to all business. “Camille, could you work with Ivy and get those specs for Cameron? I can tell you where to start looking. It was called Project Grasshopper.”

“Ready to dance?” I grinned at Ivy. She grinned back. It felt good to have a job, something concrete.

“So what happens now?” Fisher asked.

“Holding pattern, I’m afraid,” Maggie told him. “Things need to seem as normal as our lab ever does until we’re ready to act. Hack fast, you two,” she pointed at Ivy and me. “We are still planning on doing those stitches and simulations tomorrow, so you both need some sleep. Same with Cameron and Linus. Cameron, take something if you need to. You’ll work better rested.” Maggie looked at all of us, “I want Kirsten safe again, but I am not sacrificing any of you to do it. So figure out some solutions people.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was fun because everyone finally gets on the same page, and can stop suspecting each other. Camille continues to be very clear that what Kirsten wants matters to her, and forces everyone else to respect that by including Ivy.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	17. Fisher

Maggie and I ran into each other getting coffee in the break room on Wednesday morning. I had no idea how Maggie looked so normal. I’d fallen asleep on one of the couches, waiting for Camille and Ivy to finish their hacking adventure, and I was still tired. “Morning, Fisher,” she smiled at me, as though we hadn’t spent half of the night at a secret NSA detention center.

“Good morning,” I replied, smiling back. “Anything I should know about this morning?” Maggie would know I meant from the bugs.

“Nothing surprising,” she replied. “I expect Kirsten and Jacqueline in --” the elevator beeped “-- just about now. Ivy and Camille are en route.”

Maggie swept out of the break room to go play oblivious boss with Jacqueline. “Jackie! I’m so glad you’re here. I expect the rest of the ladies in about 15 min, so let’s make our final decisions about simulations for today,” her voice carried easily. I settled myself in a chair and started in on the daily paper.

Kirsten slunk in, trying to take up as little space in the world as possible. She had grabbed her coffee before she noticed me sitting there. “Good morning, Kirsten,” I smiled, keeping it distant and a bit formal. 

She started, and turned, “Fisher. I didn’t see you there.” Seeing her like this made me physically ill. Kirsten took up space. It was why I’d noticed her so much when we’d first met. She did what made sense to her and fuck you if you tried to get in her way. This was a shadow of the Kirsten I knew, and an unhappy pale shadow at that.

“Ready for your big day?” I asked, hoping all the anger was staying safely tucked away.

“Big day?” she asked, clearly confused.

“The day the B Team takes over your stitch,” I grinned. “Or do you think X Team is better, since it will be all women?”

“I don’t know,” her eyes moved away from me. Maggie hadn’t said, but I could see there had been another round of threats with breakfast. 

I wanted to say something to reassure her, but knew there was nothing that didn’t put her in worse danger. I pushed just a little, though, hoping she would understand, “I don’t know if you remember, but we met over your guardian Ed Clark’s murder. I guess that must be feeling a little raw right now, so let me say again, I’m sorry for your loss. Maggie knew him too, and said he was a man of his word.”

Something like wonder bloomed in her eyes, “Maggie said that?”

“She did.” Kirsten walked away without another word. I wondered why I felt it was so important to tell her that today. And why had Maggie said it last night? Clearly we’d left the map behind back in Kansas since Jacqueline had woken up, but Maggie’s simple faith that Ed was watching out for Kirsten -- it shook me. I’d always seen Maggie as the most pragmatic person I’d ever met. Believing in dreams didn’t seem to fit. On the other hand, she ran a lab where the impossible happened every day. Since worrying it around in my head was getting me nowhere, I moved my attention to the stitches.

I avoided Kirsten and Ivy in the conference room, huddled over glowing brain pictures. Kirsten had an ally there, and might even be catching up on last night. Me being around would just get in the way. The main lab was heating up. Camille had insisted on a few simulations with her and Jacqueline together before they got anywhere near Kirsten or Ivy. With Cameron gone, Camille took over the fussing seamlessly. She might pretend not to care, but I knew who I wanted at my back in a fight.

“And we need to do it again,” she barked. “We didn’t get Kirsten bounced in time, and we have to admit to Maggie that we caused permanent brain damage and have shut down her billion plus dollar program for the forseeable future. Not acceptable!”

“This was the fifth time ran it. Surely it’s time to move on,” Jacqueline was ice to Camille’s fire.

“No. We keep doing this until we get it right,” the iron that was Camille’s core was in full view. She looked scornfully at Jacqueline, “In case you’ve forgotten, it’s going to be your daughter or her stepsister in that tank counting on us. You might be willing to risk them, but I’m not.”

The rage bubbled in Jacqueline’s eyes for a humming minute before she damped it down, “Of course, you’re right. The safety of the stitchers has to be our main concern.”

“Reboot for us, Alex,” Camille called. “We’ll start again in 10. I need to stretch.” Camille stalked toward the break room, taking a minute to stretch her calf on the step.

“Cramp?” I asked. 

“Charlie horses off and on pretty much all night,” she replied. “Amanda is going grocery shopping today, and kept mumbling something about potassium and magnesium.”

“Maybe you’ll get chocolate covered bananas tonight?” I suggested.

“I can only hope,” Camille responded. “I need to grab a bottle of water before the next run.” And she was off again.

It was 3 hours of practice later before Camille was willing to risk a stitcher. “Blondie, you’re up,” she boomed into the conference room, making Kirsten jump. Jacqueline had wanted Ivy. Camille had put her foot down there, too, “We’re already inexperienced. Let’s start with Kirsten, who has the instincts to bounce if we get her in too deep. Adding a new stitcher is just too many variables at once.” Once again, Jacqueline had swallowed her rage to agree with Camille’s logic.

I grabbed Camille as she went to get another bottle of water before the stitch, and murmured into her ear, “You know she hates you, right?”

“Oh, yes,” Camille’s smile was bright. “I figure if she’s busy hating me, she won’t be paying much attention to Kirsten. And anyone who does that to Blondie probably should hate me, because I hate them. Plus, I’ve been right about everything all day.”

“What if she attacks you?” I asked.

“That’s why I have you, and all the rest, watching my back. Down, Boy! I’ll be fine.”

Kirsten walked out then, suited up, and climbed into the fish tank. Camille grabbed her water and settled in to Cameron’s station while a corpse -- excuse me, sample -- was wheeled into position. Jacqueline was settled at Linus’ station, and Maggie joined me at the rail to watch.

“This is a nice old lady, with no violent secrets or murder to mess up the stitch,” Maggie said to me quietly. 

“So far as you know,” I replied.

“Aren’t you just a ray of sunshine,” Maggie shot back.

“Sorry. I’m just worried about Camille setting herself up as a target.” 

“Camille’s a big girl,” Maggie said quietly, and both our eyes fixed on the brunette, running through the pre-stitch protocol. She paused to take a drink right before jumping in, and somehow the water ended up all over her shirt.

“And that’s when I developed my drinking problem,” Camille called out. “Neuro-stitch on my mark. NOW.”

The stitch itself was uneventful. Kirsten spent 2 minutes reporting on the drama at the Sunshine Retirement Center, and Jacqueline and Camille managed to work together solidly. “A few more like that,” Camille called, “and we’ll be ready for a real victim.” Camille was actually glowing with pride as she moved to the center of the room, looking like she was about to hug Kirsten. Suddenly, Camille’s leg collapsed out from under her and she fell. The sound of her head hitting the fish tank stairs -- well, it was bad.

Kirsten was there first, “Ayo, she’s bleeding. Can I move her?”  
“No! Not until I evaluate!” Ayo’s voice was commanding in the crisis, “Maggie, get me an NSA medical team on standby. Probable concussion or brain trauma.”

Kirsten had dropped to the floor next to Camille, and I could hear her, “Camille? Camille? Please be ok. I need you to be ok,” over and over again.

When Camille came to, Kirsten started crying. Ayo still wouldn’t let her move, though, “You are staying put until we get you evaluated at a hospital. That was a nasty crack on your head, young lady. Some people will do just anything for attention.”

I noticed Kirsten nearly lose it when Jacqueline pulled her away from her friend, “Let the professionals work, Kirsty. Everything’s done for the day and we should go home. Go get cleaned up.” Jacqueline wasn’t wrong, but the smugness in her tone made me very worried. Kirsten reluctantly followed orders, but she gave me a pleading glance on her way to the showers, “Please let me know if there’s any news.” I could see her use every scrap of willpower she possessed to pull herself away from Camille.

“Will do,” I whispered after her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter shows the ongoing strain on Kirsten, and also how Camille is setting herself up as a target to try to take some pressure off. The best part of writing Fisher is that he sees both of them, and respects them for what they're doing.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	18. Linus

Maggie had an intern tasked with sending appropriate social media from our phones all day, so it was the end of the work day before we found out that Camille was in the hospital. Probably to keep me from trying to kill Maggie, the security detail informed us by telling us we were taking a break to go to the hospital.

We met at the hospital freight elevator, “I’m sorry I didn’t call you right away, Linus, Cameron. I had to wait until I was sure that Kirsten and Jacqueline were back at the house before I was willing to risk contacting you.”

“How’s Camille?” I asked, brushing aside her explanation. We might not be dating, but she was definitely still a friend. “How’s Amanda?” I added.

“Amanda’s with Camille now. Camille has a minor concussion and is resting.”

“What aren’t you telling us?” Cameron cut in. “I can see there’s more.”

“Jacqueline said something after she and Kirsten got back to the house. The doctors are running some tests to see if there is an underlying problem.”

“WHAT DID SHE SAY?” Cameron wasn’t yelling, but the intensity could have sliced through titanium.

“I’d prefer to wait for the doctors,” Maggie hedged.

I stared at her, “Maggie, please? I need to know.”

Maggie met my eyes reluctantly, “Something about Kirsten getting to watch Camille waste away before her eyes.” I guessed the actual quote had been worse. Next thing I knew, Cameron and one of the security detail had their arms around me, and were lowering me into a chair. “Head between your knees, Linus!” Maggie snapped. “I do not have time to have you faint and get a concussion too. I need you functional.”

I sucked in air and the world steadied, “What does that mean?”

“I have no idea. That’s why we’re waiting on the doctors. I keep this place staffed with the best in the world,” Maggie snapped. “We’ll get answers.”

“How long until the test results?” Cameron asked, keeping a hand on my shoulder for support.

“Within the hour,” Maggie replied. 

“Can you stand?” Cameron asked me. “Let’s go see Camille, and be there to support Amanda.” His gaze shifted back to Maggie, “I assume Amanda’s still now allowed the whole story?”

“Not a chance,” Maggie replied. “I’ve told her that you two are on a secret research project and your trip was cover. And I made her sign 16 non-disclosure agreements to get that much, and threatened her with jail time if she ever admits to seeing you today.”

“What about the extra tests?”

“I lied and told her the doctors saw something on the first batch related to the concussion that made them want to do some follow up. No more.”

“Ok,” Cameron looked grim. “Let’s go.” He didn’t grab my arm, but did stay close just in case.

Camille was way too pale and still in the bed. She had a bandage on her head, and Amanda was sitting with the guest chair pulled up against the bed holding her hand.

“Is she awake?” Cameron asked quietly.

“I’m awake,” Camille groaned from the bed, and winced when she tried to move her head.

“Not looking your best,” Cameron forced his tone into something approaching normal.

“You either,” she shot back. Weaker than usual, but still there.

I moved closer to the bed, “Are you ok?” I guess my voice sounded strange because Amanda’s glance shot to me.

Cameron came to my rescue, “Amanda, can I buy you a cup of amazing hospital coffee? Linus can sit with Camille for a few minutes and give you a break.”

I saw Camille give Amanda’s hand the tiniest squeeze, “You take a break, Bae.” A hint of a grin hit her face, “I’ll be here when you get back.”

Amanda clearly didn’t want to leave, but kindness won out over worry. “You stay, Linus. I’ll go take a walk.”

Camille just laid still as Amanda and I switched places. Once we were alone, she heaved her eyes open again, “Any progress today on your front?”

“Some,” I replied. “The specs you and Ivy got us have been a good starting place. We have some ideas and will be ready to test them by tomorrow.” I summoned a smile, “Why do you care? We’re not the ones hitting our heads to get a break.”

“You should work faster,” Camille said, unusually serious. “Blondie -- she’s not ok.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Maggie said she’s at home with Jacqueline.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Camille actually picked her head up at that. “She won’t ever forgive herself. Too selfless for her own good. Arrogant too. She and Cameron are a good match.”

“What are you talking about? Maggie said that the test results aren’t back yet.”

“Linus, I can’t feel my feet. They’re gone. That bitch got me,” her head collapsed back onto the pillow. “I don’t need test results to know this is bad.” She managed to turn and look me in the eye, “You and Cameron. You stop this. Preferably soon enough that I don’t die.” How could she be so calm? “I kinda like my life right now, freak show that it is.” 

Cold dread settled in my belly and stopped my voice. Camille seemed to be somewhere between asleep and awake after the effort, so I just sat holding her hand until Cameron and Amanda came back. I grabbed Cameron’s arm as Amanda settled herself in the chair, “We’re going back to the lab now. We have work to do.”

Cameron looked at me and asked quietly, “What did she tell you?”

“She can’t feel her feet. She thinks she’s going to die. We need to get back to work.”

“That’s a deadline,” Cameron agreed, looking grim. He turned to the constant security detail, “We’ve got to get back to work. Please be sure Director Baptiste informs us of any news ASAP?”

The guard pulled out a radio, and will a few brusque commands had us back on our way back down the freight elevator, back into our unmarked van, and back to work. Panic bubbled just below my heart. I just hoped we’d figure it out in time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although I stick with canon that Linus and Camille are definitely not dating, they are clearly very close friends. Camille, always so strong, being injured, hits Linus right in the heart. He knows he's supposed to be compassionate for Amanda, her actual girlfriend, but he also has very little space to be supportive when he knows Camille's life is on the line.
> 
> Although Amanda is peripherally part of the stitchers program, I can see Maggie wanting to keep her at a distance with everything in such turmoil.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	19. Cameron

I didn’t argue with Linus about Camille’s health. I did confirm it to him when Maggie called an hour later, “It’s an accelerated form of ALS. The doctors have never seen anything like it.”

“Lou Gehrig’s Disease? Ok, that’s bad. What’s the best case scenario here?”

“One week until she loses the ability to breathe independently,” Maggie told me.

“Worst case?” I didn’t want to ask, but better to know.

“3 days. Work fast.” Three days to save the life of a friend. And stop a woman who was terrorizing my family. Kirsten. I fought down the panic again.

I hadn’t asked how Kirsten was and was pretty sure I didn’t want to know. The fact that Maggie hadn’t offered anything was telling. Kirsten wasn’t ok, and the only way to change that was to save Camille and neutralize her mother. Just that. Nothing too much. Shit.

The specs that Camille and Ivy had uncovered from the ancient Project Grasshopper files had given me several points of possible attack, and Linus and I had figured out 4 good possibilities. But how to test them? I wondered while the first batch of anti-nanobot serum synthesized. I called Maggie’s phone, figuring she was unlikely to care that it was 2 am, “Hello?” She sounded tired. Unsurprising.

“It’s Cameron,” I said. “I need some help on how to test these compounds. The only nanobots from Project Grasshopper still in existence are in Jacqueline and Kirsten. How do I get samples from them to test without letting them know I’m not in Mexico?”

“What kind of samples do you need?” Maggie asked me, much more alert.

“They’re probably in every body tissue, but the largest concentration should be in the brain or spinal cord.”

“Not subtle, Cameron.”

“That’s why I’m asking you, Boss.”

Maggie sounded thoughtful, “There are nanobots in one more person who I can ask for help.”

“Who?” 

“Camille,” Maggie sounded smug. And rightfully so. I should have thought of that.

“You have a point, but I’m not comfortable doing my first trials of an untested nanobot killer on Camille.”

“I’ll have some cerebral spinal fluid samples to you by 5 am,” Maggie promised.

“Are you sure Camille will consent?” I asked. “That is a dangerous sample to collect.”

“You’re saving her life, Cameron. She’ll agree.” 

Maggie called me at 4:30am, “The doctors just collected samples from Camille. I’m sending them to a local university to confirm nanobots before I pass them on to you. He says he’ll have run them through the transmission electron microscope and have data you can analyze by 8 this morning.”

“You have good friends who are willing to work million dollar microscopes in the middle of the night.”

“He owes me … several,” was all Maggie replied. 

“In the meantime, send over a regular cheek swab just so I can start some tests. I should be able to get a read on toxicity whether or not there are nanobots, since killing Camille to save her seems like a bad plan. We’ll have our first compound ready to test in about 30 min.”

Linus started awake off the couch when the agents brought the samples in. He’d managed 4 hours down after having been up all night the night before. I hadn’t even tried to sleep. “What’re all these?” he asked sleepily. 

“Rise and shine, Sunshine,” I grinned. “That one is compound 1, and the other is a tissue sample from Camille. We can start the toxicity studies while we’re waiting for confirmation on whether Camille has also given us testable nanobots.”

“I’ll start the cell culture after a shower, but you’re on breakfast.” Linus pulled himself up and went back to work.

Nanobots were confirmed in the samples, but the hurry up and wait nature of the work wore on Linus and myself all day. Inject compound, evaluate numbers of dead cells. Inject different dose of sample, evaluate numbers of dead cells. The inject the calculated non-lethal dose of the compound and see what it did to the nanobots. Synthesize more compounds. Synthesize another new compound. Over and over again. The first compound was way too toxic. The second slowed, but did not stop the nanobots. The third caused the nanobots to basically explode, destroying them, but also all surrounding tissue. Not great for brains. It was 10 that night before we finally started testing the 4th compound.

“What are we going to do if this one doesn’t work?” Linus asked me. His face looked gaunt. I was sure I looked just as bad.

“We’ll think of something else,” I replied. There was no other choice. No one had said a word to me about Kirsten all day, but the news from the hospital was grim. Fully paralyzed below both knees, now. Losing nerve function in the rest of her legs. Camille needed a miracle, and Linus and I were it.

“Seriously, bro,” Linus needed more sleep, “I’m tapped out of ideas. If this one doesn’t do it, we might not be in time.”

“Linus, we haven’t tested it yet. Let’s just not…” I trailed off. I was trying to hold onto my optimism from the other night, but he had a point. I had no more ideas either. I said what I hoped was true, though, “If it doesn’t work, we’ll both get 8 hours of sleep and go back to the specs. There has to be something we missed.”

“Camille doesn’t have time for that!” he’d moved to anger.

I responded in kind, “You think I don’t know that!? We’re doing the best we can.” I took a deep breath, “Let’s just test this damn compound and see what happens.” 

The painstaking toxicity experiments ate up the next 4 hours in relative silence. Finally, a dose calculated, I injected the compound into the vial with the nanobots. We waited. Nothing happened. 30 seconds. Still nothing happened. 30 more seconds. “SHIT!” I yelled and kicked the lab cabinet. Linus just sat in horrified despair. “SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!!!!!” I yelled as stormed around the room, kicking everything I could find. I collapsed on the couch in the other room, head in my hands.

Suddenly, “CAMERON! GET OVER HERE!” Linus was shouting for me. I moved faster than I thought I could and was next to him in a few seconds.

“What?” I asked.

“LOOK AGAIN!” Linus was about to start jumping.

Confused, I looked back into the microscope screen. All the nanobots had just shut down. SHUT DOWN???? We’d done it. “WE FUCKING DID IT!” I yelled. The next few minutes involved Linus and I yelling and jumping and possibly dancing.

Linus pulled himself together first, “We need to synthesize a shitload of this stuff.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have greatly accelerated the time these lab techniques take to work for dramatic effect. Also, as good friends as Cameron and Linus are, some tension in this super high pressure assignment seems reasonable. And it's a trope, but the last one had to be the one that worked.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	20. Jacqueline

Watching the girl Camille fall had been glorious. That leg collapsing from under her, no longer able to bear her weight. The sound of her head hitting the stairs, like dropping a melon. So satisfying. The best part was the look of understanding and horror on my daughter’s face. I hadn’t told her that I’d started the nerve degeneration the night before. What was that phrase I’d seen in her head? Oh yes, “Hearing a hundred times is not as good as seeing once.” She was seeing now, and it was divine.

Kirsty forgot herself badly in her panic, “Camille? Camille? Please be ok. I need you to be ok.” Over and over again she had begged her so-called friend. While her friend lay there bleeding, and also dying. But no one knew about the dying part yet. That was a fun surprise waiting for them all.

I had called her away, with the eminently logical, “Let the professionals work, Kirsty. Everything’s done for the day and we should go home. Go get cleaned up.” That glare? So satisfying. We both knew that all of these targets were right there, and I only had to think about it to have every single one of them in the same (or worse) state. It was a powerful and intoxicating leash.

Kirsty had made it all the way home before I saw the remaining spark in her explode. I’d known she hadn’t been truly broken yet. This was going to be a powerful lesson for her. She actually screamed at me, “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER? I DIDN’T SPEAK TO HER AND THERE WAS NO REASON TO PUNISH HER!” Kirsty was really quite irate.

I just smiled and waited until she was done, “I had the best reason for punishing her, Kirsty. I wanted to. I want to run the stitches, and that girl was far too interested in safety to move the work along at a reasonable speed.” Kirsty just stared at me, open-mouthed. “Plus, she had no intention of being shaken off your boot like a foolish boy. She meant to stay your friend and that was just unacceptable.”

“What did you do?” Kirsty was almost crying. So weak. 

“I’ve given her progressive nerve degeneration. Eventually, the nerves that keep her heart beating and lungs breathing will fail, and that will be that,” I was very pleased with that tricky bit of programming. “I’ll take you to the hospital to visit her in a few days so you can admire my work up close.”

“Why? Why would you torture her like this?” Watching the fight drain out of her was inspiring. Now to dig in.

“I’m not torturing her. She’s just going numb. But pain isn’t a bad idea,” I smiled again, liking how it made Kirsty flinch. “You’ve quite forgotten yourself today, and there does need to be some punishment for this outburst.” 

“No, Mom! Please no!” she started begging.

“Who should I pick?” I pondered out loud. “I don’t know if I can. Let’s just start with the first person who speaks to you in the lab tomorrow will have a car accident on their way home. Who do you think it will be? My bet is Maggie, or that lovely Detective Fisher.”

“Please no! Please please please no! Mom! Please don’t.” She was full on sobbing now. Excellent.

“But I still like the idea of pain quite a lot. Tell you what. I won’t attack your remaining lab mates right now,” Kirsty looked up hopefully. This was going to be fun, “Instead, tonight we’ll go grocery shopping and you’ll do all the talking. But before we go, I’ll roll a die. Whatever number I get -- and I’m not going to tell you just to increase the fun -- that person who you talk to will immediately get hit with a debilitating migraine and collapse in the store.”

“You can’t make me do that, Mom. I won’t.” Kirsty was still trying to fight. How charming.

“Well, we can make it two car accidents amongst your friends instead if you’d prefer? Or one car accident and one case of debilitating nerve pain. Come now, Kirsty. You misbehaved, and you’ll take your consequences like the adult you are. Or I will make them so much worse.” I walked out of the room, leaving my daughter sobbing on the floor like the disobedient child she was.

She was like a beaten dog in the grocery store, flinching every time anyone said a word to her. The poor little old lady who’d just wanted a friendly chat about avocados had to be carried out by paramedics. Just shocking, really. It was all I could do not to laugh. Kirsty just curled up into a ball when we got home and refused to speak to me. 

Annoyingly, lab work was cancelled the next day. Apparently, everyone had to go fuss about Camille, although that did please me. The car accident could wait another day. I pointed this out to Kirsty over breakfast and after another ineffectual round of begging, she retreated to her ball again. “I’ll take you to the hospital to see Camille tomorrow,” I told her. “By then, her legs will be fully paralyzed and her arms will be starting. We’ll visit every day until she dies because that’s what friends do.” I couldn’t help but giggle to myself as I quite enjoyed my day off.

The next morning, my breakfast was interrupted by too many knocks on the front door. Kirsty was still laying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. I opened to the door to Cameron, “What a surprise, Cameron! When did you get back from Mexico?” I asked, knowing it would carry to Kirsty through our link. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”

Kirsty ran from her room, yelling, “Cameron! Get out! Get out now! Stay away! Please go away! She’s crazy! She’s going to hurt you!” Tears were streaming down her face and her hair was a mess. She looked insane. So much the better.

“I can’t do that, Kirsten,” Cameron replied. “I’ve got a job to do.”

“Of course not,” I cut in. “You’ll have to excuse my daughter. She’s been getting more and more erratic and seems quite unwell. I was actually going to ask Maggie to recommend some kind of psychiatrist for her today. I mean, saying I’M going to hurt YOU? What could I do to a healthy young man like yourself?”

“Please Cameron leave. Leave now,” Kirsty had collapsed to the floor again. “I can’t lose you.”

“Really, you must excuse her,” I talked over the top. “Now what is this job that brought you here this morning?”

Just then, I felt a sting in my shoulder. I looked down and saw a dart. “Distraction,” grinned Cameron. “Cavalry’s here, Stretch. It’s going to be ok.” He threw his arms around my sobbing daughter on the floor as Maggie, Fisher, Linus, and some NSA commandos ran through the door. I saw that Maggie had the dart gun as the world went dark. She would pay.

I woke up some time later in an interrogation room, handcuffed to an anchor on the table. I hadn’t seen this particular one before, but I didn’t need to to recognize it. Maggie sat in front of me. “What are you all playing at?” I demanded, the rage rising again. “What was in the dart? Why am I here?”

“That’s a story, Jackie. Do you want the short version or the long version?” Maggie smiled smugly.

“Let’s start with short.”

“You’re a dangerous lady, Jacqueline Stinger. I knew it before you disappeared into hibernation, so I was on guard when you came back. You thought you had your daughter cowed, but she told us about the nanobots and the threats and my team got to work.”

“You’re lying,” I insisted. “Kirsten told you nothing. I would have known.” 

“Wrong. Your daughter is smart and ingenious.” Maggie smiled her Fuck You smile and continued, “The dart was just a tranquilizer so you couldn’t program nanobots while the second injection was working.”

“Second injection?” I asked icily.

“It’s something Cameron and Linus cooked up, based on the original nanobot specs from Project Grasshopper. It takes a little time to work, and they wanted it directly in your spinal cord to be sure, but that was what the the tranq was for. All of your nanobots have been deactivated,” Maggie looked smug.

I froze, turning my attention inward. They weren’t there. My power! It was gone! “WHAT DID YOU DO?” I screamed. That BITCH! She couldn’t have! My nanobots!

“I just told you,” Maggie’s smile got bigger. “You’re back to ordinary levels of dangerous. Oh, and FYI, we stopped the damage to Camille. Not sure about the level of her recovery yet, but my team’s on it.”

“Camille was going to die!” I bared my teeth.

“She was, yes. Not any more.”

“I’m going to make you pay for this, Marguerite Baptiste!” my rage was out in the open now.

“I thought you might feel that way,” Maggie met my gaze. “So the question becomes what to do with you. I thought about staging a scene where I’m going to have to shoot you again while you try to attack me and escape. Oh, and tragically, you’d just developed an anaphylactic allergy to this specific tranq.”

“You can’t do that,” fear was creeping in, around the rage.

“You’re right, I can’t,” Maggie said, moving closer to me. “I would do anything to keep this team safe, and I don’t mind killing you. But it is likely that your daughter will have to stitch into your dead brain to figure out how to reverse the damage to Camille, and I’m not going to lie to her.” Maggie leaned over me so she could whisper this in my ear. “Unlike you, I actually like your daughter. She’s smart and amazing, and has an incredible sense of justice. She took the shit sandwich you and Daniel gave her, and she has made herself a good life. I respect that.”

“That girl is weak and useless,” I spit back. “She has no sense of PURPOSE.” I was yelling now. It’s not like anyone would hear me in this place. “Take away her --” my face twisted up over the word, “friends -- and she will do anything I say.”

“I almost wish you would stay alive long enough to learn how wrong you are, Jackie,” Maggie said pityingly. Pity? Me? “That girl of yours turned my group of eccentric geniuses into a team. Into a family. And she managed to get us enough information without you knowing that I could neutralize your secret weapon.” Maggie stared at me like she’d never really seen me before, “The difference between you and her is that you manipulate to suit yourself. Kirsten manipulates to save others.”

I couldn’t stay silent, “That girl couldn’t manipulate her way out of a paper bag. All she’s good at is stitching.” The fear and anger were about equal now. 

“She convinced you she had to talk to Ivy, right? They were using coded messages pretty much the whole time.” I caught my breath. So that was how she’d done it. Maggie continued relentlessly, “She also found the bugs Fisher planted. You didn’t. She used them to talk to me.” Bugs? There were bugs? How had I not noticed? Also, talk how? There had been no words. I would have heard if there’d been words. Maggie was grinning now, probably at my obvious shock and discomfort, “Oh, and the messages she sent to Camille by the books she picked to ‘study’ in front of her? You missed those too. Your daughter is smarter than you will ever be. Hell, who do you think got me put in charge of the lab instead of Mitchell Blair?” My eyes went wide in spite of myself. Maggie’s gaze moved from amused to steely, “For all you’re now just an anachronistic sadist, I still can’t let you live. You’d do everything you could to hurt my people and Kirsten again. That is unacceptable.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked scathingly. “Am I going to be tried? Executed? The publicity would kill your program.”

Suddenly I felt a pain, and looked down to a blade sticking out of my chest. Heart shot. “That’s too messy,” I heard Maggie as I collapsed. “I’m going for simple.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where Jackie is finally breaking Kirsten by forcing her to be the reason that people are getting hurt. The powerlessness of the situation is getting to her, and she is no longer functional in any real sense. Jackie is thoroughly enjoying her power. And Maggie gets to take morally ambiguity to a whole new level.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	21. Fisher

When we burst through the door of Kirsten’s house, I was an angry as I’d ever been. Maggie had been watching from her monitor while we waited for the right moment. Seeing Kirsten so hopeless was… Well, I knew who I was going to be imagining hitting with my punching bag for a few days. Or years.

Kirsten was literally sobbing on the floor, and Jacqueline was trying to paint her as going crazy to Cameron. The thing was, if I hadn’t had all the information, I’d have bought her act. And that just made me more furious. Unbreakable Kirsten Clark literally on the floor sobbing for Cameron to go away so he would be safe. Linus was also turning pale under his dark complection.

“What’s going to happen to her?” I asked Maggie quietly.

“Kirsten?” she responded. “We’ll cure Camille and then get that girl a week with Cameron in Mexico, and an NSA approved shrink for after.” The matter of factness in Maggie’s voice couldn’t hide her own anger. But I understood now why she hadn’t let me watch much of this footage.

“I actually meant Jacqueline,” I looked at her.

“I’m going to tranq her, and we’ll treat her to neutralize the nanobots.” Maggie’s voice was cold.

“And then?” the silence that followed was intense.

“I’m going to keep the team safe.” I didn’t ask what that meant. Linus didn’t either. It was time to go in. Maggie’s shot was, of course, perfect. It was easy to forget her background with the CIA under the polish and politics.

Cameron was trying to drag Kirsten into his lap on the floor while she sobbed. Linus was staying with Maggie to supervise the nanobot deactivation. He was also getting updates every 15 min on test results from the hospital to see how effective the treatment had been for Camille. The commandos stayed with Maggie and Jacqueline, now a prisoner.

Kirsten seemed hardly able to hear Cameron’s frantic murmurings, “I’m here Stretch. It’s ok now. We’ve got you. You’re safe.” He was crying too, now.

I crouched down next to them both. “Cameron, you go take a walk,” I managed to get his eyes focused on me. “Text Ayo, and let her know that Kirsten is going to need an evaluation to be sure Jackie didn’t hurt her physically in any way. And check that Linus has things well in hand.” Cameron clearly didn’t want to do it, but he loosened his death grip on Kirsten and nodded.

“Stretch,” Cameron’s voice wavered, “I do need to take care of a few things. I’m leaving you here with Fisher.” I wasn’t sure whether Kirsten registered what he was saying. I helped Cameron lift her off the floor and maneuvered her to the couch.

Cameron clearly didn’t want to let go, so I met his eyes again, “I’ve got this, Kid. You do the genius stuff, and I will make sure she is still here when you’re done.” Cameron nodded, and pulled out his phone and rushed out the front door.

I put my arm around Kirsten and pulled her close to me. I let her cry for a while, saying nothing, just letting her feel my presence. After too many minutes, the sobs finally slowed. I tried to talk to her, “Kirsten Clark, do you have any idea how much trouble it is to keep you safe?”

She actually looked up at that, and there was the tiniest ghost of a smile before the sobs caught up again. She tried to answer me, “You think -- henh uh --” the sobs were still winning “that I’m -- henh henh -- a pain in the -- hhenh henh henh -- ass.” Tears were still streaming down her face.

“You’d be right about that,” I replied, still holding her tight against me. “But somehow you’re MY pain in the ass, and I care a lot about you.” I could hear a hysterical laugh through the tears. Still not great, but at least she was responding to my voice. “You know, it would be easier not to care about you if you’d just let Jacqueline kill us all and take over the lab like she wanted.”

“I couldn’t do that,” Kirsten wailed. 

“I know. Pain. In. The. Ass,” I repeated. “Since I know you’re too scared to ask, we treated Camille this morning. It looks like it stopped the progression of the nerve degeneration. Not sure about reversing the damage yet, but docs are working on it. Right now your mother is being treated with the new anti-nanobot serum. Cameron wants to inject it right into her spinal cord, but he’s feeling a tad vindictive right now. She won’t be able to hurt anyone with nanobots again.”

“But what about other ways?” Kirsten was still sobbing. “Mom will never give up trying to control me and the stitchers tech.” I thought about Maggie’s face when promising to keep the team safe, but said nothing.

“We’ll cross that bridge later,” was the response I settled on. “For right now, we all know you only lied to protect us. And we believe you. And you’re too brave for your own fucking good.” 

That got me a surprised look, “What? I’ve been terrified ever since she came back.”

“What’s that quote? ‘Courage is doing it anyway’ I think. Despite being spied on FROM INSIDE YOUR OWN HEAD, you made sure that all of us had the information we needed to stop Jacqueline and keep all of us safe. And you nearly killed yourself doing it,” I finally met her eyes. It was the first time since that terrible stitch that she met them. They were watery and red, but some of the terror was bleeding away.

“I couldn’t have lived with myself if she’d hurt you. Any of you.” She started crying again, “Camille? When will we know if she’ll be ok?”

“And I say again: Pain. In. The. Ass,” I smiled at her. She flinched. Still bad, but better than the near catatonic she’d been 30 minutes ago. “Linus is point person on those results. I’m going to take you to the lab, and everyone will show up and tell us things.”

Just then I got a text from Cameron, “Helping Linus. Take Kirsten the lab. Ayo’s expecting you. Possibly with tranqs for Kirsten.”

“Time for us to go, Princess,” I said. “Can you walk?”

“I think so,” Kirsten sounded unsteady, “but I can’t seem to stop crying.”

“Not a problem,” I guided her out the door. “Sniffle on me all you like. The NSA pays for my dry cleaning.”

Cameron hadn’t been kidding about Ayo. She met us at the elevator, took one look at Kirsten, and immediately took her other arm, “I should have gone to you.”

“No, Ayo,” Kirsten had stopped producing tears -- my guess was dehydration -- but her voice was still unsteady and jerking with the occasional sob, “Fisher got me here. I’m ok.”

“You’re lying to me, Kirsten Clark,” Ayo was stoney. “You are not ok. I have some Versed to relax you, and then we’ll see from there.”

“Please don’t,” Kirsten lost her battle with sobs again. “Ayo, I need to be awake to know what’s going on. I know I can’t stop you, but please.” I really hated begging Kirsten. Ayo tried to hide a flinch.

“IV line then, and you PROMISE not to pull it out,” Ayo held Kirsten’s gaze. “If I see a single sign on my monitors that worries me, I will push the Versed and not give you any warning. Are we clear?”

“Yes, Ayo,” Kirsten let Ayo get her on a gurney and start the IV. She also slapped about 20 sensor pads all over Kirsten. 

“Fisher, will you stay with me while we wait?” Kirsten asked. 

I pulled up a chair and held her hand, “I have a first name, you know.”

Another hint of a smile as she recognized that I’d said that before, “I know. Fisher.” Chelsea pulled up some ridiculous Doctor Who thing from Cameron’s computer to put on the monitor near us, and Kirsten leaked tears and held my hand while we waited. 

Cameron showed up first. From the medbay doors, looking years older than he had 2 weeks ago, “Is she ok?”

“Why don’t you ask her yourself?” I stood up and let go of Kirsten’s hand. Cameron grabbed it before she could even shift position as he slid into the chair I’d vacated.

“How’re you doing Stretch?” 

“How’s Camille?” her eyes had been closed, but Cameron’s presence popped them open again. She was still leaking tears pretty constantly, but the sobbing had pretty much stopped.

“Lower that heart rate, or else!” Ayo called from across Medbay. 

Kirsten just stared at Cameron, like a kicked puppy. “Mixed news,” Cameron replied. “We’ve definitely stopped the progression. She’s not getting worse. But killing off the nanobots didn’t undo the damage that has already happened. Reversing the nerve damage is a different problem.”

“How bad?” I wished Ayo would just knock her out already, begging be damned. The dead fear and guilt in Kirsten’s eyes was horrible.

“Paralyzed from the waist down. Some damage to hand and arm nerves,” Cameron had looked away. 

“Shit,” I said. And Kirsten was sobbing again. God damn it. Not her fault that her mother turned out to be a sociopathic sadist. Ayo stalked over with a syringe and injected something. 

“What’s that?” Cameron asked, confused. 

“I went with a low dose of xanax. FOR NOW,” Ayo glared at all of us. “Kirsten, this shouldn’t knock you out, but it might make you sleepy. And if you any of you argue, I’ll double the dose.” Kirsten just turned her head away and kept crying.

“Ayo, could you sit with Kirsten for a minute?” I asked. She nodded and I pulled Cameron out of medbay for a minute. Ayo was rubbing her head and murmuring to her. I couldn’t hear the words.

“Cameron, can you handle this?” I turned my full attention to him. “I know you’ve had a shit two weeks, but Kirsten is right on the edge of being broken. Can you be with her right now? If you say no, no one will think less of you, and Ayo and I’ll stay with her while you sleep or whatever you need to do.”

“Is that Doctor Who in there?” Cameron asked me.

“Chelsea put it on,” I responded, waiting him out.

“I can sit with her, at least for a while. I’ll sit and watch Doctor Who, and be close to Kirsten.”

“Ok,” I told him. “If you need a break later, for any reason, you text me and I’ll make it happen. We won’t leave Kirsten alone again.”

“Thanks Fisher,” the relief in Cameron’s voice was palpable. 

“You know, my friends call me Quincy,” I grinned at him, and went in search of Maggie before he could get snarky back.

Maggie was nowhere to be found, and was unreachable. That’s an NSA director for you. Linus showed up next, and Camille was with him. In a wheelchair. Fuck. That got Ayo away from obsessively monitoring Kirsten to hovering over Camille. It looked like Kirsten was sleeping? Or at least resting with her head leaned against Cameron’s. Ayo kept Camille out of medbay, though, probably because Kirsten had finally stopped crying.

Jacqueline Stinger had a hell of a lot to answer for. I tried to keep my own rage caged until later, when I could beat my knuckles bloody on the bag.

“Cameron!” Linus looked up and I saw Cameron had left medbay. “How is she?”

“Asleep,” he replied. “Chelsea’s monitoring and will call me if she wakes up again.” His eyes turned to Camille, “Are you ok?”

“You’re not the only one that hates that question, Dr. Smartypants,” Camille shot back. God it was good to hear that snark. Not so good on the wheelchair, but… Can’t fix that right now.

Cameron looked like she’d punched him, “Sorry we weren’t faster.” 

Camille proved herself yet again to be one of the most generous women I’d ever met, “Hey, you! Stop that. I’m not dying anymore. This is an improvement. You and Linus are big, damn heroes today.” I could see she was shaken too, but Camille reverted to humor, “I should even still be able to work a tablet computer.” Cameron actually looked at her, and nodded. He was pulling himself together again too. The shadow of guilt hung over Linus too, but he said nothing.

That was when Maggie walked in. Whatever she was feeling was tucked under years of CIA and NSA training, and she was all business, “Good. You’re all here. Kirsten?” She looked around.

“Finally asleep,” said Ayo. Then her look got as dangerous as anything I’d ever seen from Maggie, “No one is waking that girl up. Am I clear?”

“Understood,” Maggie nodded. “I will start then by telling all of you the news, and we’ll fill Kirsten in later.” She looked at them all, and didn’t quite hide her own anger and grief. She loved these genius children more than they knew. “After being treated with the anti-nanobot serum, Jacqueline Stinger suffered an unexpected reaction and died. She is no longer a threat to Kirsten or this lab.” There was total silence. No one seemed to know how to respond.

A weak voice broke the silence, “How did she die Maggie?” It was Kirsten from the door of medbay. Ayo jumped up looking furious, but Kirsten started at her and pointed to the IV still in her hand and the IV pole next to her. Ayo still moved to her, but not as angrily. “How did my mother die?” Kirsten repeated.

“The official report will say an unexpected negative reaction to the serum,” Maggie and Kirsten stared at each other.

“Unofficially?” Kirsten asked. Her voice cracked, but the sobbing was done for now.

“I killed her,” Maggie announced. “She would never have stopped trying to hurt you, or us because that would also have hurt you. I couldn’t allow it.” No one else in the lab breathed.

“Good.” I saw some of Kirsten’s anger for the first time that day. Her voice was stronger. “Did she tell you how to heal Camille?” that made her voice break again.

“What do you think, Kirsten?” Maggie asked quietly.

“So I’m stitching to find it.” She was so matter of fact. God that woman was brave.

“NO!” Camille, Linus, Cameron, and Ayo all in unison.

“Yes,” said Maggie. 

“Kirsten, you don’t have to do this,” Cameron was by her side. “It’s your mother. I don’t want you hurt again.”

“I need to,” Kirsten replied, and I saw signs of those tears again. “Camille needs to be ok. It’s my fault, my obsession that got us my mother. I need to make it right. We need to know what she did to reverse it.” 

Maggie cut Cameron off before he could protest again, “It’s Kirsten’s choice. If she wants to stitch, we stitch.” Cameron closed his mouth, but I could see the protest all over him. Maggie switched her attention to Linus, “How long to map a sample for us, Linus?”

“A few hours?” he looked ill.

“Do it,” Maggie ordered. To all of us, “Jacqueline Stinger damaged this lab in so many ways, and would have continued to do so. She did all of this THIS,” Maggie’s eyes passed over each of us, “in two weeks. This stitch is going to be hard and ugly and distasteful. And. We will finish this with speed and professionalism, and then we’ll pick up all the pieces and see where we are.”

We all started moving. I moved towards Kirsten again, but Ayo was right there with Cameron, “If you want a medical go for stitch, you lay back down until the last possibly minute.”

“Can I take the IV out to stitch?” Kirsten asked. 

“Hell, no,” Ayo shuffled her back to bed. The day wasn’t over yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I needed Fisher to be the narrator for this chapter again because so many different threads were coming together, and I needed his cool cop's eyes to watch all the characters. And I also had to get near catatonic Kirsten to be capable enough for stitching, and Fisher was one of the few characters I thought could provide enough emotional stability to be actually helpful. He also didn't have a job in neutralizing Jackie, once she was captured.
> 
> If you're enjoying this enough to keep reading, kudos or comments are appreciated.


	22. Kirsten

Of course I had to stitch into my mother one more time. I had known that the universe didn’t like me enough to prevent this monstrosity. I mean, Maggie had left me room to turn it down, but that wasn’t going to happen. Cameron had grabbed my arm as I was climbing up to the fish tank, holding me back for a minute, but I looked at Camille in her wheelchair, then at him and said, “I have to.” 

“Of course you do, Sparky,” he was so sad and resigned in that moment. “I just wish you didn’t.”

“See you on the other side,” I climbed into the fish tank, moving slowly to accommodate the IV tubing Ayo insisted stay attached. That sounded like it should be a movie quote, so Cameron would just assume I was misquoting something he loved. 

The pre-stitch checks, so normal with Cameron at the controls. I almost relaxed, but Jacqueline Stinger awaited me one last time. Finally, Cameron, “It’s ‘See you on the flip side’ Princess. Neuro-stitch on my mark. MARK!”

I shouldn’t have been surprised to see my own living room. It had been her house too. But I was surprised.

“What do you see, Stretch?” Cameron’s voice brought me back to the mission. Nanobots. Reverse the damage from Camille’s super-rapid ALS.

“My house. The living room. Jackie is talking to Mitchell Blair. Stinger’s here. It’s about Project Grasshopper. She’s explaining her new protocol to speed up computer interface, and make humans more integratable with machines. This must be the beginning of the nanobots. I need to move forward.” I pushed all my feelings about my parents down hard.

“Moving you now,” Cameron was solid in my ear. 

“It’s a lab now. She’s arguing with Blair. He’s mad that she’s started the nanobot trials without consulting him. Injected 23 people, including herself.” I paused, looking around, “There’s a picture here on the lab wall glowing.”

“What’s it a picture of?”

“I drew this. It’s our family,” I touched it and immediately zapped to the same lab but a different time. “She and Stinger are alone now. They are discussing how the test subjects are all rejecting the nanobots and dying. But a child might not reject them. And she’s still mostly fine -- not nearly as many symptoms as the others.” 

“You’re doing that thing where your vitals get wonky and you overload all the monitors, Stretch. You hanging in? Maybe some deep breaths for me?” 

“Doing my best,” I was probably short with him. I’d apologize later. “I’m here now, a child. She’s injecting me with the same nanobots.” The feeling took me a minute to place, but I guess I said it out loud, “She actually loves me. She thinks these nanobots will make my life better.” After the last week, the love made my stomach turn.

“We will discuss her Parent of the Year Award, or, you know, the opposite, after you’re back on dry land. Keep on those nanobots. Two minutes left,” Cameron was tense. 

“Move me forward again. There has to be something about her learning to program these things,” I told him.

“There’s a hot memory cluster, but it doesn’t look like anything Linus has seen before. We’re going to try it ... NOW.”

“I’m floating. She’s floating. She’s in hibernation. She was awake,” I can’t keep the horror out of my voice. “Awake and alone for years and years and years with no way to communicate. No wonder she went crazy.” I paused as I felt around the floating loneliness, “Wait a minute. She’s teaching herself to program them so she can communicate. She talked to the doctor caring for her. That was her first connection. Then the NSA killed him and moved her and she had to start again.” Her hard earned skill seems to settle effortlessly in my mind.

“Do you know what she did to Camille yet? Not to rush, but we’re down to 45 seconds.”

“Take me to the recent past so I can see,” I braced myself against what I knew was coming.

“Hope you’re ready for this, Cupcake, because it’s the brightest spot we could find.”

“I’m here in this lab. She’s at Communications and Camille is piloting. It’s one of the simulations.”

“Your heart is making Ayo nervous. She’s threatening to inject drugs right now. Please slow it for at least the next 25 seconds.”

“This hurts. A lot,” I did my best to push the pain away. “She is so angry that Camille won’t do what she wants. So angry.”

“15 seconds, Stretch.”

“I got it,” I said as I bounced myself back to reality. I pulled myself out of the tank as fast as I could. Despite my promise to Ayo, I pulled the IV. I needed to move.

Cameron was there before I was all the way down the stairs, “Are you crying, Kirsten?”

“Probably,” I replied as tears continued to stream from my eyes. “But first things first.” I closed my eyes and pulled on my own nanobots and Jacqueline’s hard-earned knowledge. This way, and this way, and I locked the programming in place. I walked towards Camille, lifting my arm while it started to glow.

“Are you supposed to be glowing? I don’t remember the glowing before.” Cameron was hovering. I supposed having a glowing girlfriend probably made that justified.

“I just wanted to be able to see the nanobots,” I replied. “Do you trust me, Camille?”

“I’m in, Blondie,” and Camille grabbed my glowing hand. Her grip was awkward because of the nerve damage, but the glow transferred to her body immediately and then seemed to vanish. Her grip became more sure almost instantly. “It’s working! I can feel my legs. OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH!!!! FUCK!” Camille’s screams of pain were horrifying, but just as suddenly her face cleared again, and she jumped up and hugged me. She wobbled for a minute, and then steadied. “I AM BACK!”

“Ayo’s going to want to run some tests,” Cameron stated the obvious, while the rest of the lab screamed and cheered. He pulled the comm out of my ear, and said, “And how are you?” 

All of the feelings I’d been holding down, trying to cope for the stitch, came flooding back, “She’s really dead, Cameron. She was my mother and she’s dead, and maybe she really died during those years in the hibernation pod. But she is never coming back. And I almost lost you and Camille and all the rest, and there was nothing I could do. I was so helpless.” 

Cameron scooped me up and rocked me while I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed, “I love you, Kirsten. I’m so sorry.” 

Suddenly, I felt other people touching me. Camille was rubbing my back, “We’re here, Blondie. You’re not alone.” And Linus and Ivy and even Fisher was there. It just made me cry harder.

Trust Fisher to be practical, “You got her Cameron? I think we should get our miracle worker and the miraclee back into medbay to get everyone checked out before Ayo kills us all.”

“Good idea. I got her,” Cameron held me even tighter as he carried me carefully past Ayo into medbay and laid me on a table. I should have been embarrassed about the crying, but there was no space for that emotion in the wave after wave of rage and relief and grief hitting me.

“I’m giving her a tranq NOW,” Ayo said to Cameron and Maggie. Where had Maggie even come from?

“I can hear you,” I sobbed. “Talk to me.”

“This stitch was against my better judgement,” Ayo turned to me. “But Camille is walking in here and you are going to sleep.” Cameron touched my face so gently as the drug pulled me into the dark.

I woke up for the first time in my living room with Ed holding me, “I’ve got you Kirsty.” I knew it was a dream, but it was also the home that Ed had made for me inside my own head.

“She’s dead,” I whispered, and the sorrow and loss hit me again.

“I know. I loved her too, once upon a time,” Ed looked sad, but he kept stroking my hair. “She was a terrible mother,” he added.

I snorted a laugh at that, “You’re not wrong, I think.”

Ed continued, “But you loved her and you thought you were going to get her back, and got a monster instead. She wasn’t always a monster. Ruthless, yes. A monster, no.”

“What am I going to do now, Ed?” I started crying again. 

“You’re going to grieve,” he said simply, “for the mother Jackie should have been. And for the fact that you had to destroy her in the end.”

“This hurts too much,” I was probably whining. Ed didn’t seem to notice.

“Of course it does, Kirsty. I’ll stay with you here as long as you need, and Cameron will be there when you’re ready to wake up.” 

“I still have to get rid of the nanobots,” I said.

“Yes, you do,” Ed agreed with me. “I know you’ll do the right thing.”

“But what if it messes with my brain? They’ve been there since I was 8.”

“I’m connected to you. Your lab family is connected to you. Even Ivy is connected to you. You love them and they love you. No matter what happens, those connections will lead you home.” 

“Are you sure, Ed?”

“Of course, I’m sure.” He gathered me even closer to him, “Now rest and cry all you need until you’re ready to face your next steps.” I eventually fell asleep.

I woke up some time later in an actual hospital bed. Cameron was in the chair next to the bed. His clothes were wrinkled and his hair was messier than usual. He had on his glasses and appeared to be reading Molecular Gastronomy. Out loud to me. “Cameron?” I asked.

“You’re awake!” He pushed some button on my bed. “The nurses told me to page them right away.”

“Why am I in the hospital?” When had I left medbay?

“Do you remember what happened with Camille?” he asked carefully.

“Mostly, I think,” I winced hard at the memories. They hurt.

“Well, Ayo sedated you right after you healed Camille. I mean, she’d been wanting to for hours.” Cameron was still being careful, “Do you remember what happened when we finally got you out of your house?” 

“Sort of?” They were a fog of sobbing and fear and Fisher calling me a pain in the ass while holding my hand. It was probably good they weren’t that clear. “I was so afraid for all of you.”

“It was a little more than that, Stretch. You were barely responding to anything and couldn’t stop crying. Fisher said that you begged Ayo not to knock you out, so she waited until after the stitch,” he looked at me like I might break. Had I really been that fragile? Yes. I remembered that. Not so much now, though. “Anyway, the sedative wore off and you still wouldn’t wake up, and so you ended up here. It wasn’t a coma, if that makes you feel better. You were dreaming.” He paused for a second, “Were you with Ed? Was he taking care of you?”

“Yes,” I gave him that much. “How long?” 

“This makes 2 days. They wanted to try some drugs to force you to wake up yesterday, but Maggie wouldn’t let them. She said you probably needed the sleep.” I was going to owe Maggie more than one thank you card. Does anyone make a “thank you for killing my sociopathic mother” cards? Fuck. That still hurt too. 

“Am I ok otherwise?” 

“All your brain scans tested normal. No residual damage as far as anyone can tell.”

“Well, that’s something.” Another thought trickled in, “How’s Camille? Is she really better?”

“Whatever you did fixed her right up. She’ll be in probably as soon as I text her. They’ve been keeping her for a few days for observation.”

The nurse and doctor came in then, so Cameron and I didn’t talk again until they were gone. I kept thinking about what I had done to Camille. About the nanobots in my brain. I didn’t notice Cameron send the text, but he must have, because the whole crew was there when the doctors left.

“Hey, Blondie,” Camille danced over to me in her hospital slippers and sat on the edge of the bed. “How are you doing?” Maggie, Fisher, Linus, and Ivy hovered just inside the door.

“I’m doing fine,” I said firmly. “As soon as they let me out of this place, we’re going back to the lab and Cameron’s giving me the anti-nanobot shot.”

“Are you sure, Kirsten? Those nanobots have been part of your brain for a very long time. It might hurt you,” Maggie. She actually seemed more worried for me than the program.

“Then give it to me here so I’m already hooked to every monitor in case things go wrong. But I want them out of my brain.”

“Are you really sure, Stretch?” Cameron moved to hold my hand. “Besides the risk to you, you also did just cure a case of ALS, which is making many doctors freak out on the floor below us.”

“I don’t care,” I said firmly. “I don’t want this power. It’s too much. Sure, I used it to help Camille. But what about next time? What if we’re against a really scary bad guy?” My voice was quivering. I couldn’t help it, “It is too much power, Cameron. I want it GONE.”

“You’re not Jacqueline,” Fisher said quietly into the total silence.

“Not now. But what about later? She wasn’t always that Jacqueline either.” Cameron looked like he wanted to argue with me further. “Seriously, if you want the ALS cure, bring back a nanobot-proof vial, I’ll cook up another batch, we can save it, analyze it with the quantum computer, patent it, and make our grandkids more wealth than even they can imagine.” He smiled at the botched Star Wars reference. “But I want this out of my head, Cameron.”

“I don’t want to risk losing you again,” I saw the wear of the past two weeks in his face. He continued softly, “I love you, Kirsten Clark, and don’t want to live in a world without you in it.”

“I love you too, and you won’t lose me again. Ed said so,” I knew he’d understand. “You’re my family. All of you. I’ll always come back to you.”

“Was Ed sure?” Maggie again. Funny how she accepted my ghost as an authority without question.

“Very.” 

“Ok,” Cameron said. “I trust Ed. But I’m holding you to the vial of nanobots to patent. Having rich grandkids sounds fun.” The smile felt unfamiliar on my face. It was good to be home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kirsten manages to heal Camille, and starts to make peace with the massive emotional turmoil her mother has caused in her life. I let Ed into the chapter because she needed a parent after all that pain and heartbreak. And I also think it's reasonable that Kirsten would not want to have the same power that Jackie used to terrorize her.
> 
> Hopefully you enjoyed my story. Clearly, these events would have long term consequences for all the characters and I might write some more about what happens next at a later date.


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